A smile can be the most eye-catching feature of your face.
Even a subtle change can make a big difference in the way you
look and feel. New techniques like
teeth whitening, bonding,
enamel shaping, veneers,
and white fillings allow us to create
a beautiful smile with, at times, only minimal changes to existing
teeth.
Teeth
Whitening (Bleaching) is a very popular procedure in cosmetic
dentistry. It is a relatively easy and effective technique for
obtaining a dazzling, whiter smile at home, in a matter of days.
Bonding
is a procedure where tooth-colored composite resin material is
placed to "fill in the blanks." One of the most frequent
uses of the bonding technique is to fill in a gap between front
teeth.
Enamel
Shaping (Contouring) is the process of shaping natural
teeth to improve their appearance. Shaping can be used to correct
minor cases of crowded or overlapping teeth, smooth rough edges,
or make small adjustments to the shape of a tooth.
Veneers
are laboratory fabricated, porcelain facings that are bonded to the front surfaces of teeth to whiten, close spaces, straighten, or repair chipped or worn teeth. The veneers are only about
1 mm thick (the thickness of a fingernail). That same thickness
is "shaved" off the natural tooth surface so when the
veneer is bonded to the tooth, the tooth doesn't feel or look
"thicker".
Caps
(Crowns) are rarely used for cosmetic correction any more,
since the advent of veneers, but in some cases a crown may be
necessary for a particular tooth. A tooth with a bad fracture
or a large filling that is breaking
down or has decay around it may be a candidate for a crown instead
of a veneer. This patient has veneers on top, but one of the front
teeth had a large filling and had to be crowned.
White
fillings replace silver or gold fillings with a more natural
looking tooth-colored material. Since teeth are translucent, dark
fillings cause the whole tooth to appear darker when viewed from
the side. Replacing older dark fillings with white fillings will
keep your smile glowing!