Many people continue to underestimate the effect of confidence. A charming smile can make someone feel better not only about the perception of others, but more importantly themselves. You are, however, not the only person who wishes that her/his smile could be brighter, straighter or less irregular. This is because, through cosmetic dental care, a perfect smile is no longer an impossible dream. Here are the basics of what to expect and weigh up when addressing the need for smile reconstruction.
What exactly is Cosmetic Dental Care?
Cosmetic dental care focuses on the aesthetic improvement of the teeth, gums, and bite. Whereas traditional dentistry mainly involves work concerning oral hygiene and the prevention/treatment of oral diseases, cosmetic dentistry further beautifies the smile. It combines art and science to achieve a natural-looking result, which is durable and unique to each individual in opposition to their facial features.
Popular Types of Cosmetic Dental Procedures
There are many treatment modalities in cosmetic dentistry to address specific concerns:
- Teeth Whitening (Bleaching): This procedure is probably the single most sought-after and sought-after cosmetic treatment. It involves bleaching the tooth shade to various degrees using professional products containing active bleaching agents. A whitening procedure removes stains resulting from habits such as drinking coffee, tea, or red wine; smoking; or simply through the aging process. Whitening gives you that instant glow in your smile.
- Dental Veneers: Veneers are thin ini-cut shells one or a few microns thick, custommade to fit your teeth and bonded to the tooth surface for protection against chips, cracks, stains, slight misalignments, and gaps, to provide a perfectly flush and beautiful look for the teeth.
- Dental Bonding: Acting on chipped or cracked teeth, bonding using a tooth-colored resin material sculpted onto the tooth surface and cured by a special light, is a more simple and cost-effective solution than veneers for small gaps and discoloration.
- Orthodontics (Braces & Aligners): The primary function of orthodontic treatment is correction and greatly affects the aesthetics of the smile by correcting crooked teeth and malocclusion. Nowadays, apart from the regular all-metal braces, we have ceramic braces, lingual braces (braces placed behind the teeth) and aligners, all providing calculation-perfect options for discreetly correcting an imperfect smile.
- Dental Implants: Whenever a tooth is lost, an implant is the longest-lasting and most natural-looking tooth replacement available. A titanium post is surgically embedded into the jawbone as an artificial tooth root, upon which a custom-made crown is placed. Apart from creating the aesthetics of your smile, implants prevent bone loss and facial deformity.
- Gum contouring, or gingivectomy: For someone who has an excessive display of gums ("gummy smile") with excess gingival cover, gum contouring is an aesthetic procedure to reshape or recontour the gum line. A little gingival tissue is removed or reshaped to expose more of the tooth surface for a well-balanced smile.
- Crowns and Bridges: Crown restorations and bridgework are often considered restorative procedures, but they can also have a huge role to play in cosmetic dentistry by covering real ugly teeth that are severely discolored, misshapen, or broken, to make them look better and stronger. Bridges replace one or more missing teeth with manufactured teeth anchored onto adjacent natural teeth or implants.
The Benefits Beyond Aesthetics
Investing in cosmetic dentistry should be seen beyond a pretty smile:
Increased Self-Esteem: A smile for which you feel pride can do wonders for your self-worth and make you feel at ease in social or professional interactions.
Better Oral Health: Many treatment options from cosmetic dentistry, such as orthodontics or dental implants, also improve a patient's oral health by, say, improving bite alignment to stop tooth decay in crowded areas or maintaining jawbone structure.
Better Speech and Chewing: Handling misalignments or some replaced teeth makes them more capable of pronouncing clearly or chewing food comfortably.
First Impressions: Either healthy or glowing that smile is often one of the significant attributes noticed by people and leaves one standing from the crowd.
Is Cosmetic Dentistry For You?
Your first step toward that flawless smile should be a consultation with a qualified cosmetic dentist. Here she or he will look into your oral health and talk to you about your aesthetic wishes, then put forward the best suitable procedure(s) for your particular needs. They will also guide you through the journey, explaining the process, the associated costs, and what you can expect in the end, thus helping you come to an informed decision on proceeding with the transformation of your smile. Many great facilities can be found throughout Canada that offer the full range of cosmetic dentistry solutions, so rest assured that you can find an expert to guide you.
Seize the new possibilities that cosmetic dentistry offers. A radiant and confident smile is a dream that is well within reach!
