Services of a Top Cosmetic Dentist

People say that the most important thing you can wear is a smile. Cosmetic dentists take care of any issues with your teeth’s appearance, and they specialize in making your teeth not only stronger and healthier, but more beautiful at the same time. Keep your smile appealing and charming everyone you meet with a visit to a cosmetic dentist.

What are some of the things that a cosmetic dentist can do for you?

• Whiten and polish teeth
• Shape and smooth teeth
• Close gaps and make teeth more uniform

Teeth Whitening

Over time, teeth can become discolored by food and drink, and exposure to things like smoking. Using a whitening toothpaste and at-home whitening kits and remedies may help you curb some of this darkening and staining on your teeth, but depending on your genetics and environment, you may need to have your teeth professionally whitened.

A cosmetic dentist can offer you several options for how to lighten your teeth. Most treatments are chemically based, designed to penetrate into the tooth’s enamel and lift the stains out through different washes, gels, or other whitening solutions. The dentist will make a mold of your teeth, to ensure that the solution is distributed evenly and completely around your teeth. Then, you will wear the tray in your mouth for a designated amount of time while the whitening solution penetrates into the tooth to lift the stain.

At-home and overnight

For some whitening treatments, you will need to apply the solution daily for an extended period of time. Some teeth whitening can be done at home in a few hours, while you read, watch TV and hang out. And other teeth whitening can be done overnight, while you sleep. Just put the tray in and let the solution do its work. You will need to follow up with your cosmetic dentist in a few weeks to ensure that everything is working correctly.

Laser whitening

One of the newest and most innovative ways to whiten teeth uses a high-intensity light to break up the stains in your teeth’s enamel. While this can remove deeper, darker, and tougher stains, it can also be more costly and can be painful, especially if you have a sensitivity to peroxide. Talk with your cosmetic dentist about whether this is an option and if it’s right for you.

Teeth Shaping

Everyone’s mouth is a different shape, and each person’s bite mark is as unique as their fingerprint. No two mouths are exactly alike. That means people’s teeth come in slightly different shapes, or they may grow in at odd angles to one another, creating a roughness or unpleasant texture or appearance. If your teeth are slightly adjusted forward or back of their neighboring teeth – if you have one tooth that you think of as a “snaggle” tooth – then talk to a cosmetic dentist about teeth shaping. With very gentle files and instruments designed to smooth teeth with minimal discomfort, your dentist may be able to straighten out some of the bumps, uneven spots, or slightly-off-center spots in your smile.

Cracks & Chips

A cosmetic dentist can also address cracked, chipped, or damaged teeth. The area around the damage often needs to be smoothed out once the crack or chip is filled in, or depending on the location of the damage, it may be best to file down the chip and smooth out the edge of the tooth.

Gaps & Appearance

Many people have teeth that are slightly too far apart from one another, or too close together and a bit crowded. Depending on your situation, your cosmetic dentist may be able to recommend bonding, which is a process of filling in spaces between teeth or cracks in a tooth with a dental cement. In more extreme cases a cosmetic dentist may recommend veneers, which are custom shells that are capped on the front and sides of teeth to make them look clean, white, polished, and even, and also to protect them from future damage.

Choosing a Cosmetic Dentist

When looking for the best long-term cosmetic dentist for you and your family, consider your long-term needs and goals for your smile. You may have certain dental needs now, but will that change in the next five years? Ten years? Twenty? Take the time to shop around for a cosmetic dentist who can not only do what you need them to immediately, but who can become your one-stop-shop for a beautiful smile for years down the road.