With so much celebrity focus at the moment on having white teeth and looking fabulous we thought it would be a good idea to go through various treatment plans for a smile makeover. Looking at your options to replace missing teeth, straighten crooked teeth, brighten dark teeth and rebuild broken down teeth.
Will go through the different treatments available to improve your smile, how long I might take and how much they might cost.
What is a smile makeover?
A smile makeover is the generic term used to give a range of treatments to improve a person’s smile. They usually include resolving problems such as:
- Straightening crooked teeth. This is usually done with a combination of:
- orthodontics
- crowns and veneers
- bonding
- Replacing missing teeth. This is usually done with a combination of:
- implants
- bridges
- dentures
- Brightening dark teeth. This is usually done with a combination of:
- whitening
- veneers or crowns
- bonding
- Rebuilding broken down teeth. This is usually done with a combination of:
- bonding
- veneers or crowns
Not every smile makeover includes all of the above, it is an entirely customised and tailored treatment plan to each unique individual. The main clues small element of each treatment in order to achieve the desired result.
Is a smile makeover beneficial?
A smile makeover can help you achieve a beautiful smile design, and a beautiful smile can lead to increased confidence and feeling good about ourselves. The best smile makeovers will fit exactly with your personality, you could have anything from a natural look through to a Hollywood white look, the choice is completely yours. So yes, a smile makeover can be incredibly beneficial.
What can I do to improve the appearance of my smile?
Sometimes the smallest of things can affect the way your smile looks. Even a single crooked tooth can create shadows, and those shadows can look dark. Very often, a small amount of dental bonding applied to the surface of that Crooked tooth can give it the appearance of being in line. When the teeth are straight and in-line there are fewer shadows and the teeth look brighter.
People often think that a smile makeover might cost thousands of pounds and involve months and months of treatment, this may be true, but is also possible to achieve dramatic results in a short period of time using some very quick and cost-effective techniques. The best thing to do is to speak to your cosmetic dentist, let them know about what you don’t like with your smile, this will allow them to put together a comprehensive treatment plan with all of your options.
What can a cosmetic dentist do?
I cosmetic dentist will often have additional training and possibly accreditations with organisations such as the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. Being a cosmetic dentist often involves attending multiple courses on how to restore a patient’s smile using a range of techniques including veneers, crowns, orthodontics and whitening.
A primary principle that most cosmetic dentists use is:
- Align – this is thinking about making crooked teeth straighter
- Bleach – this is thinking about making those teeth lighter and brighter
- Bond – this is thinking about changing the shape of those teeth or restoring broken areas
The align, bleach, bond philosophy gives the most minimally invasive way of achieving great results with cosmetic dentistry.
Let’s talk composite bonding
Composite bonding involves your dentist applying cosmetically bonded thin layer of tooth coloured material to the surface of your tooth. This can be used to give the illusion of straightening by building crooked teeth into alignment, it can also be used to restore broken down teeth and even to cover a dark tooth with a lighter colour. If you look in the mirror in detail at your tooth you will see there are multiple different colours built into it, they get slightly darker towards the gum and lighter and more translucent towards the tip of the tooth. Your cosmetic dentist will match this natural variance to make your composite bonding look incredibly natural.
Do composite veneers ruin your teeth?
It is sometimes possible to make composite veneers (bonding) on the surface of your teeth without doing any treatment to other underlying tooth, this is often the case if the truth to be bonded is set back from the surrounding teeth. However, sometimes your dentist might decide to remove some natural tooth structure in order to rebuild the tooth in a more natural alignment. If this is the case then natural tooth will be removed. This doesn’t mean that your teeth are ruined, but it does mean that composite bonding should be considered a permanent change to your teeth.
If composite bonding is done well it should never ruin your teeth although you may likely require restorations of some form over the surface of your teeth for the rest of your life.
How long will front teeth bonding last?
A retrospective meta-analysis of over 561 research papers conducted in 2011 found that at least 60% of composite restorations will last more than 10 years when proper materials are applied correctly. They do however note that patient, operator, material and tooth related factors may have a large influence over the survival rate.
Can a dentist just a composite veneer once it’s on your tooth?
Yes, this is one of the things that makes composite bonding and appealing option. Even if the composite restoration breaks, your dentist can repair it while it’s on your tooth. They can also adjust the composite bonding once it’s on your tooth. This is opposite to a conventional porcelain veneer which will need to be completely removed and we made after it has been bonded to your tooth.
Let’s talk porcelain veneers
Porcelain dental veneers on a more permanent option than composite bonded veneers. Composite bonding can begin to discolour and is more prone to failure, porcelain veneers are usually more durable and long-lasting. Veneers can be used to cover the surface of teeth to straighten, realign, rebuild and brighten them.
Dental veneers aren’t used quite so much as they used to be, not because there’s anything wrong with veneers but because with the advent of modern orthodontic techniques such as Invisalign, it’s now possible to straighten natural teeth in adults… Because we only used to do orthodontics on children the only way to straighten adult teeth was to cover them with veneers, Invisalign and other orthodontic systems have changed the way dentistry is now done for adults
Why do porcelain veneers looks so unrealistic?
The thing is they don’t. People often think that veneers look unrealistic, the problem is this is a biased view because they only noticed unrealistic ones. Realistic veneers blend in so naturally with your smile that you would never know you have veneers fitted… Consequently people think they are natural teeth and don’t notice them as veneers.
Porcelain veneers can be made to blend in naturally with the surrounding teeth, however there is also a trend to have them incredibly white, white then is naturally occurring and it is usually this type of dental veneer which people notice the most. It is however a personal choice for each patient and if you would like the Hollywood look then please let your dentist know.
Let’s talk orthodontics
In years gone by dentists only used to do orthodontic procedures on young children. However the advent of modern orthodontic techniques has made this mode of straightening crooked teeth more available to adults.
Invisalign is a classic example.
Many people don’t want to have train track braces in adult life, Invisalign uses clear braces to straighten teeth with no one else knowing. You really wouldn’t know if someone was wearing Invisalign, they really are virtually undetectable.
Wherever possible most dentists prefer to use orthodontics to straightening crooked teeth because it maintains natural tooth structure. A dentist is there to maintain your teeth and help you keep them, therefore dentists usually dislike the idea of removing any healthy natural tooth structure, which is often required for dental veneers. However, orthodontics can often take up to 2 years to achieve the desired result whereas veneers can achieve results in a matter of weeks.
The real key to having a smile of your dreams and the best smile makeover in and around Bushey, Stanmore and Elstree is to request a free Smile Evaluation with us & let us know your concerns, We can then create a tailored treatment plan which takes into account your ideal timeframe, outcome and budget.
We look forward to being of service…
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