Say I Do To Your Dream Smile

February 01, 2015, Marielaina Perrone DDS

A marriage is a memory that lasts a lifetime if not more. Our wedding photos will be shown to our family, friends, children, and even grandchildren. Shouldn’t your wedding smile be up to the task to ensure long lasting beautiful memories? A well trained cosmetic dentist can make major and even minor changes that can alter one’s smile to make it more pleasing to themselves as well as others. Below you will fond some common procedures to make you smile shine brightly on your big day.

Common Cosmetic Dentistry Procedures

-Dental Bonding. This procedure uses tooth colored dental materials that are adhesively bonded to a tooth. This might be one of the simplest and most cost effective cosmetic dentistry procedures to bring your smile back to life. Dental bonding gives your cosmetic dentist the ability to change shape, size, color, length, and close any gaps that might be present in your smile. Dental bonding can be completed in a short period of time (as little as an hour). The main disadvantages of dental bonding are possible chipping, wearing over time, and staining. The final end product is not as strong as a porcelain restoration and may need to be updated as time goes on. While dental bonding is also used to restore teeth damaged by tooth decay it can also be used as a cosmetic veneer. Dental bonding is a very easy way to make your smile youthful and natural in appearance again for that perfect wedding smile.

-Porcelain Veneers and Porcelain Crowns. Often referred to as “instant orthodontics”, porcelain veneers give the dentist the ability to change the alignment of teeth, if the alignment issues are not too extreme. Porcelain veneers and porcelain crowns can be a great way to replace lost tooth structure and alter imperfect teeth creating a more youthful, natural appearance. Porcelain crowns and porcelain veneers usually require more than one visit, but the results will give you a beautiful, youthful smile that lasts for years to come. Porcelain Veneers are custom made, ultra thin, tooth colored shells that are bonded to your teeth, and will not change color over time. This allows the cosmetic dentist to not only alter color of your teeth, but shape and length as well. Porcelain crowns can be used on teeth that either already have crowns or need more extensive work (having prior large restorations or existing tooth decay). Both porcelain veneers and porcelain crowns can as used by your dentist to give the patient a flawless, more youthful and natural looking smile.

-Teeth Whitening. This is quite possibly the most popular cosmetic dentistry procedure today. It is safe and effective and comes in a few forms. These forms include in office whitening, at home whitening (with dentist provided trays), as well as use of teeth whitening strips, and topical gels. All of these methods are quite effective for most people. It has been proven by research time and again, that people find a whiter smile to be more youthful and attractive.  People tend to feel better about themselves when they are happy with their appearance. Teeth whitening can give patients a dramatic change to their smile with minimal cost and time invested.

-Teeth Re-Contouring. This might be one of the easiest cosmetic dentistry procedures of all. It is usually done without the need for anesthesia and can be as simple as filing down a tooth that appears longer or is slightly out of alignment with the others. Most patients are quite surprised at how such a small adjustment can alter their smile for the better.

-Gum contouring and Gum grafting. Evening out gum levels can help teeth to look more evenly sized and can make short teeth appear longer. Gum grafts can fix areas where gum recession has occurred to make everything appear even and natural again.

-Dental Implants. Dental implants allow cosmetic dentists another option in tooth replacement to recreate a youthful, attractive smile. Whether it is a single tooth or a full mouth restoration, dental implants can fill that need. Missing teeth or open spaces has long been considered a sign of old age. Having a full set of white teeth screams youth especially when they are bright, white, and sparkling. When a person is missing a tooth they have several options. There are partial and complete dentures (including the all on 4 dental implants system), traditional bridges, and dental implants. A dental implant can look and feel just like a natural tooth. It is also easier to keep clean than a traditional bridge. Dental implants are placed directly into bone creating a solid foundation for a natural tooth replacement.

-Bite Reclamation. Over time as we age, we tend to lose some height on our teeth. This loss of height of height is also referred to as loss of vertical dimension. Some other factors that cause this loss include acid reflux or teeth grinding (bruxism). Reclaiming a person’s bite utilizing dental implants and porcelain crowns will increase vertical height which will also remove some of the wrinkles around the mouth. These wrinkles develop as our we age and our mouth’s sag from this loss of dimension. Cosmetic dentistry can fix some of this.

-Botox and Dermal Fillers. Long the realm of cosmetic surgeons, dentistry has now added these procedures to give what is called a dental face lift. In combination with dental work, removing some of those wrinkles on the face and around the mouth specifically will better frame that beautiful, white, youthful smile.

Wedding Smile Conclusion

A wedding smile will last a lifetime both in pictures and actual appearance. If you are interested in modifying your smile see your dentist as soon as possible so treatment can be planned prior to your big day. Some treatment can be completed in a short time but other more extensive treatment can take weeks if not months to complete.

© 2015, Marielaina Perrone DDS. All rights reserved. Henderson Cosmetic Dentist

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