Alternatives for Improving Smile

A beautiful smile plays a very vital role in enhancing the overall beauty of face. Rotated, stained and maL-placed tooth can cause major aesthetic/cosmetic and psychological problems in teenage and young adults. Mid-line teeth gap, rotated teeth, crowded teeth, stained teeth, broken tooth edges and wearing tooth edges are the most common cosmetic problems that our patients report to us. Dynamic advancements in the field of dentistry has come across with the solution of majority of cosmetic problems.

Here we discuss the various options available for improving smile:

1. Veneers: They are thin pieces of porcelain or plastic glued to the front of your teeth. For teeth that are severely discoloured, chipped or misshapen and gaps between the teeth, veneers create a durable and pleasing smile. A veneer is made to match the colour and shape of your tooth. Not everyone is a candidate for professional teeth whitening. Bleaching is not recommended if you have tooth colored fillings, crowns, caps or bonding in your front teeth. There are two types of veneers:

a. Porcelain (indirect) veneers, which must first be created to fit your teeth in a dental laboratory and require two visits to the dentist. Porcelain veneers are generally stronger, while composite veneers are less expensive. With porcelain veneers, the dentist takes an impression of the tooth and sends it to the dental lab for fabrication of the veneer, usually after the front of the tooth has been reduced.

b. Composite (direct) veneers, which are bonded to your tooth enamel in a single visit. With either method, the tooth is prepared for bonding by roughening the front surface with mild etching solution. The veneer can then be bonded to your tooth using a dental bonding cement.

2. Bonding: It uses composite resin to restore chipped or broken teeth, fill in gaps and reshape or recolor your smile. After applying a very mild etching solution that slightly roughens the surface of your teeth and permits the bonding material to adhere, your dentist applies the resin and sculpts, colours and shapes it to provide a pleasing result. A high-intensity light hardens the material, which is then finely polished. Bonding agents are used in treatment of midline gap closures, fractured tooth restoration, wearing teeth edges.

3. Whitening: Some people are born with teeth that are more yellow than others. Others have teeth that yellow with age. Your natural tooth colour can also be affected by many factors. Surface stains (called extrinsic stains by dentists) and discolouration can be caused by:
a. Tobacco (whether smoked or chewed)
b. Drinking tea, coffee, or red wine
c. Eating highly pigmented foods such as cherries and blueberries
d. Accumulation of tartar deposits, which result from plaque that has hardened
e. Treatment with the antibiotic tetracycline during the time when teeth are forming
f. Yellowing or greying of the teeth as part of the aging process
g. Trauma to the teeth that may result in the death of the tooth's nerve, giving the tooth a brown, grey or black colour.

Whitening/Bleaching is a simple procedure where whitening agents are applied over the tooth surface in order to chemically change the colour of tooth. It can either be a single visit clinical procedure or multiple application home procedure under the guidance of your dentist.

Will my newly whitened teeth stain?
Any tooth can stain, including the veneers and bonds mentioned above. To help prevent stains from coming back, avoid smoking, coffee, tea, red wine and heavily coloured foods. And brush your teeth twice a day with a whitening toothpaste. If you wish to discuss about any specific dental problem, you can consult a specilized dentist and ask a free question.