Cosmetic Dentistry: Five Ways to Enhance Your Smile
If you are dissatisfied with your smile and want to enhance it, there are five aspects of your smile you need to look at carefully.
1. Colour
If your teeth are discoloured, yellow or stained, there a few steps you can take.
- If you have tobacco, coffee or wine stains, it is just a matter of having your teeth professionally cleaned.
- If your teeth are sound with no fillings or exposed dentine, then ask us about teeth whitening methods that would be suitable for you
- If you have old fillings that have become rough and stained due to wear and tear,
replace them to get even-coloured teeth. - In extreme cases of deep-seated discolouration, you may need porcelain veneers or even crowns to enhance the colour of your smile.
2. Shape
Porcelain or ceramic veneers and crowns can enhance colour, they can also mask the shape of mal-formed teeth. With the novel generation of ceramics, veneers and crowns can give a natural, translucent appearance to your teeth. They can also be long lasting if you don’t have habits like gnashing of teeth or cracking of ice cubes and bones. A discussion with our dentist will let you know what is possible in improving the shape of individual teeth.
In some cases, a simple addition of tooth-coloured filling or “bonding” may be all that is needed.
3. Position
If teeth are crooked, the best thing to do is to straighten them by moving them gently through the jaw bone. This can be done with conventional fixed braces for teeth. If you are concerned about image especially when meeting clients, or if the thought of having metal and wires fixed to your teeth seem too much to bear, there is the novel Invisalign system that uses a series of clear, removable aligners to gently move the teeth – without anyone knowing. As the aligners can be removed for eating and cleaning, it does offer convenience and less discomfort than metal braces.
For those who really can’t wait for their teeth to be straightened with braces or aligners, there might be quick fixes with veneers and crowns. But remember that these invariably mean irreversibly cutting sound teeth to mask the position of teeth.
4. Gaps
Showing gaps between teeth even back teeth can make one look prematurely old. Traditional dentures can give very satisfactory results at relatively low cost. Bridges and implants can allow artificial teeth to feel like one’s own, as they don’t need to be removed for cleaning. A consultation with our dentist will let you understand the best way to replace lost teeth within constraints of budget, time and oral condition.
5. Hygiene
Even if you have no issues with the colour, shape, or position of your teeth, there is one aspect of an attractive smile that nobody can ignore: hygiene. Lack of hygiene can cause not solely tooth decay but gum disease.
Keep your pearly white teeth beautiful and your gums in the pink of health by keeping them clean. This means brushing and flossing them daily. Daily home maintenance must be supported with regular professional care that includes checks of your fillings or dentures and removal of hardened deposits like tartar that inevitably builds up with time. Find out about how we maintain your smile.
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