Enhance your Smile
6 ways dentists can enhance your smile
Did you know that smiling, whether fake or genuine, can improve your overall mood by releasing endorphins?!
According to some research, smiling can impact a person’s happiness and mood throughout the day and make them go about their business with better confidence. This universal symbol of happiness makes it easier for you to make friends by spreading feelings of warmth and friendliness. You will look more approachable when you smile, making people tend to be around you more often. In contrast, avoiding smiling can cause anxiety and stress, and if it’s due to some dental problems, it can decrease a person’s self-confidence while communicating with others.
Having misaligned and unattractive teeth could be enough reasons to make a person less confident, self-conscious, ashamed, and doubtful about their attractiveness. Unfortunately, many people avoid smiling or have to cover their mouth when they smile because of having crooked or crowded teeth, chipped or broken teeth, or missing or yellow teeth. The good news is that the days of embarrassment are gone caused by dental issues like crooked, missing, or discoloured teeth. Nowadays, you can look more attractive by referring to your dentist and having a smile makeover. Luckily, cosmetic dentists can offer several dental procedures to improve your imperfect smile and enhance your confidence. Let’s read on to see what options are available for your specific situation to have a smile makeover.
Dental Crowns
A crown is a dental restoration placed over a damaged tooth to cover and restore its shape. Crown, this tooth-shaped cap, may be made out of metals, porcelain, composite resin, or ceramics and will restore your tooth’s appearance and function.
Dental crowns can solve many dental issues and improve your smile:
- Your dentist may suggest a dental crown to prevent your weak tooth from breaking or fracturing.
- Crowns are also used to cover a cracked or chipped tooth and protect it by preventing a subsequent break.
- Damaged or worn down teeth can be protected and regain their strength by being covered with a dental crown.
- Dental crowns can hide many aesthetic problems a tooth may have, such as tooth discolouration or darkened tooth, and enhance your smile as a result.
- If you were missing a tooth and worried about the impact of the gaps on your smile, a dental crown may be able to do the trick by filling the gaps by replacing the missing tooth.
- Dentists may need crowns to attach dental bridges or to cover implants.
- Porcelain dental crowns can match the colour of your natural teeth and improve your appearance significantly. A skilled dentist performs a dental crown that can look as real and natural as your teeth.
Dental Implants
If you are missing a tooth and you are a suitable candidate, dentists can consider dental implants for you to improve your smile.
A dental implant is a titanium screw inserted into the jaw and replaces a missing tooth root. Dental implants can be considered alternatives to dentures that sometimes are nothing but a source of inconvenience.
Dental implants will easily integrate into the bone structure and provide a long-term replacement for your missing tooth root.
A dental implant is used to:
- support a crown
- replace single or multiple missing teeth
- prevent bone loss
- prevent a sunken aging appearance
- restore severely damaged teeth
- stop further decay and repair the damaged tooth
- improve your bite by filling the gap created by missing teeth
A dental implant is a surgical procedure, but once a dental implant is fully fused to the jawbone and an artificial tooth is successfully attached to it, you can enjoy the look, feel, and function of an authentic natural tooth.
Dental implants can boost your confidence by restoring your compromised smile caused by missing or severely damaged teeth.
Dental Bridges
Missing teeth can easily affect a person’s smile and decrease their confidence. Apart from aesthetic problems, missing teeth can pose other issues for a person. If you are missing a tooth/teeth, your speaking and chewing ability will also be affected.
One of the solutions that cosmetic dentists suggest to improve your smile is a dental bridge. Dental bridge! Even the name can indicate what purpose a dental bridge serves!
Dental bridges are used to close or bridge the gaps between teeth and prevent the teeth from moving or drifting towards the empty hole.
Dental bridges are permanent dental restorations used to replace an absent tooth. A pontic, an artificial tooth, will fill the space caused by the missing tooth and be held in place by two abutments on each side of the gap.
Dental bridges made of porcelain can perfectly match your natural teeth’ colour and restore your teeth’ appearance.
Improving your smile is not the only advantage of dental bridges; a bridge can also improve your bite because it won’t let the teeth move from their place. Dental bridges will help you chew better and improve your overall health as well.
Visit your dentist to see if you are a suitable candidate for dental bridges. Your cosmetic dentist will offer the best option for your missing tooth and compromised smile based on your unique needs and circumstance.
Dental Veneers
Another possible option for you to have a smile makeover is dental veneers. Dental veneers are tooth-coloured layers that are placed over a tooth to enhance its appearance. Dental veneers that are thin layers of porcelain or composite material are permanently adhered to the front of your teeth and are typically made from porcelain.
Veneers will improve your smile and solve several dental issues, including:
- broken teeth
- crooked teeth
- worn-down teeth
- misaligned or uneven teeth
- fill wide gaps between the teeth
- chipped or cracked teeth
- stained and discoloured teeth
Porcelain veneers are stain-resistant and an excellent option for a smile makeover as long as you are in proper health.
Note: Veneers won’t work if you have severe alignment issues; in this case, orthodontic treatment will be suggested.
Orthodontic Treatments (Invisalign and Braces)
Invisalign
Invisalign refers to a type of orthodontic treatment dentists use to straighten your teeth and treat misalignment to improve your smile.
Invisalign treatments are helpful to fix crooked teeth, crowded teeth, overbite, underbite, or crossbite. However, Invisalign won’t work for more complicated orthodontic problems like filling significant gaps between the teeth or raising or lowering your tooth position, which can be done with dental braces.
Invisalign is custom-made, and they are exact because digital imaging has been used to make the trays.
These clear plastic aligners:
- are almost invisible because they are supposed to be worn long hours during a day
- they are removable so the person can take care of their oral hygiene, eating or drinking
- are changed every few weeks
Misaligned teeth can decrease your confidence and prevents you from smiling. Misaligned teeth can cause many problems, such as difficulty eating, chewing, speaking, or even breathing. Misaligned teeth are one of the orthodontic issues that can be treated by Invisalign. Depending on the severity of your condition, your dentist may ask you to wear Invisalign for 6 to 12 months to fix misaligned teeth.
Crooked or crowded teeth can lower your confidence in your daily interactions with people and make you want to cover your mouth while smiling. Dentists can address such dental problems with Invisalign treatments. While treating crooked or crowded teeth with Invisalign can take less than six months for children, it may take more than a year for adults.
Having gaps between teeth is another factor that can affect a person’s smile and oral health and can be fixed with Invisalign treatments.
Your dentist may ask you to wear your plastic aligners 22 hours a day for the treatment to be as effective as possible. You can only take your aligner off while you’d like to eat or drink something or when you want to brush or floss.
Braces in Brisbane
If severely misaligned teeth or having significant gaps between your teeth, Invisalign treatment cannot solve the problem anymore, and dental braces will typically be the treatment option.
Compared to Invisalign treatment, braces are considered the more powerful treatment option to correct orthodontic problems. Since braces are not removable and apply more force on the teeth to move them in the right direction, they elevate your chance of faster achieving the desired result. Braces can improve your teeth’ function and restore the beauty of your smile by applying pressure on the teeth. Dental braces will make eating more comfortable by correcting your bite, repositioning your misaligned teeth, and moving them in the desired direction, giving you a more brilliant smile.
Braces are more noticeable than Invisalign and are not removable; they need to be worn 24 hours a day.
Maintaining oral hygiene may become a challenge while having braces on; however, ignoring brushing or flossing will accumulate plaque around the brackets.
Hard and sticky foods can damage the archwires and brackets of your braces. It would help if you visited your dentist to have them repaired.
While traditional metal brackets and wires were the only available option in the past, patients can now consider lingual and ceramic braces as their options for braces.
Teeth whitening
Your teeth can change colour and stain over time due to many factors like tobacco use, coloured foods and drinks, poor oral hygiene, genetics, age, some medication, etc. Teeth can lose their whiteness and get yellow, brown, or grey shades, making your smile less attractive.
Teeth whitening in Brisbane is a simple dental procedure cosmetic dentists suggest to restore your smile and confidence. This fast and inexpensive solution can achieve a satisfactory result, improve your teeth’ appearance, and give you a more appealing smile.
There are several options to have your teeth whitened, but please remember that consulting with your dentist is a must before you try any whitening treatment.
At-home teeth whitening
You can buy over-the-counter whitening products and give this option a try at home. If professional whitening is not for you, these whitening kits are considered cost-effective, simple, and convenient options.
You can receive a custom-made whitening tray from your dentist that will perfectly fit your teeth; these custom-made trays will work better than one-size-fits-all trays.
You should put the whitening gel in your custom tray and wear the tray at home for the suggested amount of time. Your dentist will give you the necessary instruction on using these trays and how long you should keep them on.
Because whitening products contain peroxide, wearing these trays longer than recommended may cause gum irritation.
Professional teeth whitening Brisbane
To receive better whitening results, you can refer to your dentist to have your teeth whitened professionally in the dental office.
Since in-office bleaching products contain more peroxide and are stronger, you will see a faster change in your teeth’ colour.