BASIC COSMETIC DENTISTRY
Cosmetic Dentistry is the art and science of creating a
beautiful smile. With new advances in teeth whitening, bonding,
and porcelain technology, an ordinary or unpleasant smile can be
changed into a magnificent smile, in just two painless visits.
If you've ever wondered why so many individuals have such
perfect smiles, you might be surprised to find out how many of
them have had cosmetic dental work done.
Basic cosmetic dental procedures come under the following
sections:
TOOTH-COLOURED DENTAL FILLINGS
Turning a “metal mouth” to a natural tooth colored smile…
For over 100 years, dentistry has restored teeth primarily with
a material made of mercury and silver. It has done its job well,
although we have had to live with its weaknesses. Those
weaknesses consist of cracking teeth due to expansion of the
material, and restorations turning black as the silver in the
material corrodes.
Now we have many ways to provide tooth-colored restorations. We
can use adhesives to bond tooth parts that look and act like
teeth. We can provide a bright, healthy and strong smile with
these exciting new techniques in adhesion dentistry.
DENTAL BONDING
It is the use of a tooth colored restorative material that is
applied on to the teeth. It can then be polished and shaped to
look like the rest of the teeth. These are also known as
composite veneers.
Composite veneers cover the facial surface of teeth to change
tooth color, position or shape. Addition of composite to tooth
structure increases tooth size and therefore, there is often
tooth reduction to make room for composite placement. Amount of
reduction is determined by position of original tooth in
relation to the desired position and color of tooth structure in
relation to the thickness of composite materials required to
block out color.
After these teeth received blows in accidents, several shades of
the material have been used to build them back to their natural
form, shape and color.
Thus, bonding can quickly fill in ugly gaps between teeth and
repair chips and cracks.
ENAMEL SHAPING / CONTOURING
Enamel shaping removes parts of the contouring enamel to improve
the appearance of the tooth. It may be used to correct a very
small chip. The removed enamel is irreplaceable. It is also
known as enameloplasty, odontoplasty, recontouring, reshaping,
slenderizing, and stripping. Very often enamel shaping along
with bonding helps in achieving excellent results.
NATURAL LOOK VENEERS
A porcelain veneer is a thin shell of porcelain that is
bonded onto the front surface of a tooth so to improve its
cosmetic appearance.
A porcelain veneer can be an ideal way to make a cosmetic change
for a tooth. Compared to dental bonding, porcelain veneers
usually look more life like and they have the added benefit of
resisting staining well. As a disadvantage, porcelain veneers
are typically fairly expensive and if used in the wrong
application can be prone to breaking. Unlike dental bonding, if
a porcelain veneer has broken typically the whole veneer must be
replaced. It usually cannot be patched or repaired.
One way that we can make your smile more attractive is to place
porcelain veneers or jacket crowns. Porcelain veneers are
translucent, thin laminates made to improve the esthetics
(shape, spacing, color) of natural teeth, to correct crowding,
or to replace composite bonding.
If you already have crowns on your front teeth, replacement with
all porcelain jacket crowns may give you a more natural,
attractive appearance. Or think about cosmetic repositioning as
an alternative to orthodontics with the placement of porcelain
veneers.
TOOTH WHITENING
Tooth whitening is a bleaching process that lightens
discoloration of enamel and dentin.
Tooth bleaching, also known as tooth whitening, is
a common procedure in general dentistry but most especially in
the field of cosmetic dentistry. Many people consider white
teeth to be an attractive feature of a smile. A child's
deciduous teeth are generally whiter than the adult teeth that
follow. As a person ages the adult teeth often become darker.
This darkening is due to changes in the mineral structure of the
tooth, as the enamel becomes less porous. Bacterial pigments,
foodstuffs and tobacco can also stain teeth.
As white teeth are subconsciously associated with youth, they
have become desirable. This has been made more apparent with the
spread of American culture worldwide, where an especially white
smile is coined a "Hollywood smile". The procedure to bleach
teeth uses oxidizing agents such as hydrogen peroxide or
carbamide peroxide to lighten the shade of the tooth. The
oxidizing agent penetrates the porosities in the rod-like
crystal structure of enamel and oxidizes interprismatic stain
deposits; over a period of time, the dentine layer, lying
underneath the enamel, is also bleached. Tooth bleaching will
generally last from 2 to 5 years, with variations from factors
such as cigarette smoking, and tea and coffee consumption
Methods
There are two main methods of bleaching. The first involves
applying a high concentration of oxidizing agent for a short
period of time, which is the so-called office bleach. This
produces quick results but risks chemical burns to the soft
tissues. Therefore, most in-office bleaching procedures use a
light-cured protective layer that is carefully painted on the
gums and papilla (the tips of the gums between the teeth). The
bleaching agent is either carbamide peroxide, which breaks down
in the mouth to form hydrogen peroxide, or hydrogen peroxide
itself. The bleaching gel typically contains up to 35% hydrogen
peroxide equivalent.
The alternative method involves using a thin mouth guard or
strip to hold a low concentration of oxidizing agent next to the
teeth for as long as several hours a day for a period of 5 to 14
days. This is known as take-home or over-the-counter bleaching.
This is a slower process but has fewer risks to the soft
tissues. The bleaching agent is typically less than 10% hydrogen
peroxide equivalent.
A typical course of bleaching can produce dramatic improvements
in the cosmetic appearance of most stained teeth; however, some
stains do not respond to bleaching. Tetracycline staining may
require prolonged bleaching, as it takes longer for the bleach
to reach the dentine layer. White-spot decalcifications may also
be highlighted and become more noticeable. Bleaching is least
effective if teeth have white spots, decay or infected gums. It
is also least effective when the original tooth color is
grayish. Bleaching is most effective with yellow discolored
teeth.
DENTAL JEWELRY
If you can wear jewels in your ears, why not on your teeth? Why
pierce an ear when you can bond the jewel to a tooth? We have
been piercing our ears for as long as we can remember. Dental
jewelry is nothing new either; Incas placed precious stones in
their teeth, probably as a token of wealth. The new and
revolutionary is, with today’s tooth colored composites, used in
dental practices to fill small cavities you can bond a jewel on
the surface on the tooth without damaging the enamel. Cool. And
you don’t even have to be wealthy. So if you already have
piercings and tattoos, like pain and damage – do you care?
Probably not, then you have to settle just for the good looks of
it. But if you happen to be allergic, can’t wear earrings or do
sports where you don’t wear jewelry – dental jewelry is perfect.
Dental jewelry includes a surface-covering jewelry piece, the
body of which is designed to lie principally in a plane parallel
with the tooth surface and is designed to be affixed to said
surface by a layer of fixing composite. On its backside, which
is designed to be turned toward the surface of the tooth, the
jewelry piece has a recess which, along the piece's
circumference of said backside, defines a continual supporting
edge upon which the jewelry piece rests against the tooth
surface.
“Twinkles” is a small jewel designed to be bonded to your
tooth.
A precious stone set in pure gold to enhance your smile and
emphasize your personality.
Twinkles are safe, reversible, exclusive body art that leaves no
permanent mark, letting you display a fun, personal form of self
expression with a great sense of style.
|
