Cosmetic Dentistry

For years, dentists have worked to improve methods of treating teeth and gum problems and to help patients prevent problems in the first place. Now dentists can also improve the way they look and work. A dentist can alter the shape, colour, or position of your teeth. For many people, improving the appearance of their teeth improves the way they look and feel.

Cosmetic dentistry can help you out when you aren't happy with the way your teeth look or the way they function. You can correct broken, chipped, cracked, widely spaced, stained, and misaligned teeth.
There are several types of cosmetic treatment if we include orthodontics:

• Bonding involves applying a composite resin (or glass and plastic) to tooth surfaces and hardening it with light or heat.
• Bleaching uses a chemical agent to lighten the colour of teeth and remove discolouration.
• Orthodonic treatment involves braces, retainers, or other devices to straighten crooked or protruding teeth.
• Veneering involves covering the fronts of teeth with a thin layer of extremely thin acrylic or porcelain shells.

BLEACHING
Most types of stains and discolourations can now be removed from teeth using cosmetic bleaching techniques. Teeth that have been discoloured due to food or tobacco stains, root canal treatment, or even the normal darkening that comes with age can be lightened by bleaching.
There are two types of cosmetic bleaching:

1. Non-vital Bleaching. Sometimes teeth that have had root canal treatment turn dark either before or after the procedure. Non-vital bleaching lightens the tooth from the inside out after the root canal treatment has been completed.
2. Vital Bleaching. This type of bleaching is used for all teeth other than those that have had root canal treatment. For this, we will ask you to wear a custom-fitted mouth guard filled with bleaching solution for a certain amount of time each day. Vital bleaching is painless and should cost less than bonding or crowns.

BONDING
Imagine a quick, painless way to fill in small chips, disguise cracks, bridge a gap, or cover discoloured teeth. Bonding can do all this and more. Bonding is made possible by composite resin, a plastic that is semi-liquid at first, but that becomes hard and durable when cured with heat or light. This material can be tinted to match the colour of natural teeth. Composite resin can be contoured and shaped to resemble the missing part of a chipped tooth. It can cover over a stained tooth. It can make a fractured tooth look whole and perfect. Composite resin can even build up the size of teeth so gaps between them are reduced or eliminated.

Advantages:

• It can be painless. There may be very little if any drilling involved.
• It takes relatively little time to do. Unlike crowns, bridges or veneers, one appointment may be all that is needed.
• It costs a lot less than crowns. Before bonding, crowns were the only way to improve the look of chipped, widely spaced, or discoloured teeth.
• It can be used on children, because bonded material can be removed and replaced as children's teeth grow.

Drawbacks:

• Bonding treatment doesn't last as long as crowns. On average, it usually lasts about 5-10 years, compared to 10-20 years for crowns.
• Some composite resins can be stained by tobacco, coffee, tea, blueberries, grape juice, cherries, and red wine.
• If the seal between your tooth and the bonding material isn't perfect, decay can occur under the composite resin.

VENEERS
When teeth are severely stained, badly chipped, or very uneven, it may be recommended that an acrylic or porcelain veneer be used instead of bonding. Veneers are extremely thin, very strong shells that are attached to the front surfaces of teeth. They are usually applied in two visits.
On the first visit, we will thin the natural tooth and take an impression of your teeth, so the veneers can be custom-made by a laboratory.
On the second visit, we apply a mild etch to your teeth to roughen them and help the veneers attach more securely. The veneers are then applied to your natural teeth, one by one, using composite resin cement and the bonding technique.

Things to Consider

Cosmetic dental procedures and orthodontics aren't for everyone. Here are a few things to consider before you go ahead with bonding bleaching, or orthodontics:

Success and Durability:

• Bleaching may not remove all stains. Discolouration caused by the antibiotic tetracycline taken during childhood can be resistant to bleaching.
• Bleached teeth may require repeat treatments one to three times a year.
• Bonding doesn't last as long as crowns and may require touch-ups every 3-5years. Crowns require touch-ups every 10 years or so.
• Veneers can chip or peel off if not cared for properly. Avoid habits such as biting your fingernails and chewing on hard objects.

Time:

• Bleaching usually takes several visits (about ½ hour each) before teeth are lightened.
• Bonding is quick. Several teeth can generally be bonded in one visit.
• Veneer treatment usually requires at least two, sometimes three, dental visits of varying lengths.

Discomfort and After-Effects:

• You may experience minor discomfort with veneer treatment.
• Bleaching may sometimes affect tooth pulp (the soft tissue that contains nerves and blood vessels and runs through the centre or root canal of a tooth). In serious cases, you may eventually require root canal treatment.
• Staining or decay can occur under the composite resin if the bond between your tooth and the bonding material fails.
• Placing veneers is often an irreversible process because a small amount of the enamel has been removed to accommodate the thickness of the shell. Teeth may be sensitive and look unnatural until the veneer is bonded.
• Veneered teeth must be either periodically re-veneered or crowned if the veneers chip or peel off, or if decay develops under the composite resin or the porcelain veneer.

Eating, Drinking, and Smoking:

• Tobacco, coffee, tea, blueberries, grape juice, cherries, and red wine can stain bleached and bonded teeth as well as natural teeth.
• Veneers, especially those on the front teeth, can be chipped if you are not careful when biting into hard or chewy foods.

Cost:

• Cosmetic dental procedures might not be covered by dental benefit plans. If you have your teeth bleached or bonded, you may have to cover the costs yourself.