You might be considering cosmetic dentistry if tooth decay, breakage, discoloration, gum disease, or missing teeth have all taken their toll on your oral health, leaving you self-conscious about the appearance of your smile.
Cosmetic dentistry is a branch of dentistry that focuses on improving how your smile looks to boost your self-confidence. While many cosmetic dental procedures are just for aesthetic purposes, some can offer restorative benefits.
At Beaches Dentistry in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, our team led by Nodesh Shyamsunder, BDS, and Jasleen Raina, DDS, offers smile makeovers — a series of cosmetic dentistry procedures that can address multiple oral health issues to provide you with your best smile ever.
This month’s blog explores what a smile makeover is and what it can include.
If you’re unhappy with how your smile looks for multiple reasons, a smile makeover seeks to correct what you dislike about your smile through a series of cosmetic dental procedures. We create smile makeovers for each person, so your specific smile makeover consists of various treatments at different intervals until you achieve the smile you want.
These are some of the things you can include in your smile makeover:
Dental veneers are thin but strong shells placed over the top of your teeth to cover a range of cosmetic flaws. They consist of medical-grade ceramic, and they can correct teeth that are crooked, discolored, gapped, or different lengths. We remove a small amount of your tooth’s enamel before the veneers get attached with dental adhesive, so veneers aren’t reversible.
There are many kinds of teeth whitening products available that you can buy at your local drugstore; however, at Beaches Dentistry, we offer professional strength whitening products that you can apply in the office or take home and do on your own. Teeth whitening works best when your teeth have become discolored due to staining foods and beverages or aging.
Crowns are tooth-colored “caps” placed over teeth that need extra protection due to cracks or breaks. This process restores the tooth’s appearance and keeps potentially dangerous bacteria at bay.
Bridges replace missing teeth by placing a dental device consisting of two crowns and an artificial tooth in the middle. The two crowns get placed on existing teeth, and the artificial tooth settles into the gap.
During dental bonding, a tooth-colored composite resin gets placed over cosmetic flaws before curing with high-intensity light. This procedure can correct cracks, discoloration, and other imperfections, such as gaps or differing tooth lengths.
This treatment, called indirect fillings, is used when your tooth is too damaged to support a typical tooth filling. If your tooth cusp is in good shape, an inlay is placed over the decay to restore your tooth; however, if there is significant damage, an onlay can cover most of the tooth. These are made of tooth-colored materials to provide a discreet restoration.
Clear braces or clear aligners can straighten out your teeth that are crooked or gapped and also address bad bites (malocclusions) in a much more subtle way than traditional metal braces.
When you have a “gummy smile” or an uneven gum line, gum contouring can give you a more even-looking smile. We remove some of the excess gum tissue to reveal the underlying tooth.
To learn more about what’s included in a smile makeover or to get started with yours, schedule an appointment with our team by calling our office or booking online today.