Your Smile Makeover: An Overview of Procedures

Smile makeover procedures

Gaining Your Ideal Smile With a Smile Makeover

When was the last time you found yourself looking for excuses to smile? Being truly confident in your smile is a wonderful feeling that can make you appear friendlier, more confident, and more enthusiastic to others. Radiating these positive traits can help you in both your professional and personal life.

Cosmetic dentistry has a range of treatment options that can resolve the issues with your teeth to give you this kind of beautiful, confident smile. A smile makeover, which is a combination of multiple different cosmetic dentistry procedures to improve the appearance and function of your teeth, can even address multiple or complex dental issues to create a smile you’ll love showing off. To help you understand what a smile makeover can do for your smile, we’ve created an overview of the procedures that are often included in it.

Tooth Whitening Smile Makeover

If your teeth are stained or discolored, a professional tooth whitening treatment can safely whiten your teeth by multiple shades. Professional treatments produce these dramatic results in a fraction of the time it takes to see improvement using over-the-counter whitening kits. This is because they use prescription-strength whitening gel and a customized dental tray to ensure that the gel is evenly distributed across your teeth, getting into all their little nooks and crannies without coming into contact with your sensitive gums. In-office whitening treatments use a specialized light to activate the gel, removing even the most stubborn stains in about an hour.

If you’d rather whiten your teeth at home, you can also use an at-home professional whitening kit. This method takes longer than in-office whitening treatments, as you’ll need to apply the gel daily for two weeks, but it produces equally dramatic results—all in the comfort of your own home! Dental restorations like porcelain crowns, implants, and porcelain veneers are often matched to the color of your existing teeth, but they don’t change color from whitening treatments. As a result, a tooth whitening treatment might be a crucial early step in your smile makeover if you’re unhappy with the current shade of your teeth.

Orthodontic Treatments

Orthodontic treatments are capable of restoring a wide range of issues with your teeth, including misaligned bites and teeth that are uneven, crooked, overcrowded, or have gaps between them. Simply straightening your teeth can have a drastic effect on the way that your teeth look and function. There are several different methods of straightening your teeth available nowadays, so you can choose a treatment that meets your goals and your budget.

In a general sense, your options are traditional braces or clear aligners. Braces and aligners both use similar concepts to straighten your teeth, exerting gentle, slowly increasing pressure on them to encourage them to move into their ideal position. Braces accomplish this with brackets and metal wires secured to the front of your teeth, while aligners use a series of clear plastic aligners. Everyone’s treatment plan and schedule is different depending on the method you choose and the dental issues that need to be resolved, but it’s a time-consuming process. The treatment pays off, though, transforming the appearance of your smile and potentially simplifying other procedures in your smile makeover.

Dental Bonding Smile Makeover

Dental bonding uses a resin that’s matched to the color of your teeth to repair a wide range of cosmetic issues. It can be used to cover permanent stains on your teeth, change their shape, lengthen them, repair chipped or slightly broken teeth, and to close a slight gap between two teeth. The resin is polished to match the gloss of your natural teeth as well, ensuring that it blends perfectly with the rest of your teeth. The procedure to place bonding on your teeth is simple, inexpensive, and often doesn’t require anesthetic, making it a popular choice for smile makeovers. The resin used in dental bonding does stain over time from the foods and drinks you consume, but it can last about 10 years with proper oral hygiene.

Porcelain Veneers

Porcelain veneers are an incredibly popular cosmetic dentistry treatment that’s often used in smile makeovers. They’re thin, tooth-shaped pieces of porcelain that are permanently attached to the surface of your teeth to improve their appearance. They can cover teeth that are permanently stained, slightly crooked, chipped, cracked, broken, misshapen, or uneven. They can also cover gaps between teeth and lengthen your teeth to help improve the appearance of a gummy smile. Veneers are custom-made for you and placed individually, so you can get any number of them that you need—from a single veneer to an entire set. Since they’re made from porcelain, veneers look completely natural and are durable as well as stain-resistant. If you practice proper oral hygiene, they’ll last about 15 years or more. They are permanent, however, so it’s important to remember that every tooth that receives a veneer will always need one.

Dental Crowns Smile Makeover

Dental crowns are tooth-shaped dental restorations that are secured over your natural tooth, restoring its appearance and function. They can be used to restore teeth that have suffered extensive decay or severe damage like a deep crack or major break. Dental crowns can also improve the appearance of teeth that are permanently stained, crooked, or misshapen and are often secured to the top of dental implants to replace a missing tooth. They can be made out of metal, resin, porcelain, and porcelain-fused-to-metal.

Each of these materials has its own benefits regarding the longevity of the crown, cost, and appearance. Resin, porcelain, and porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns mimic the appearance of natural teeth the best because they can be tinted and polished to match the shade and gloss of your natural teeth. Resin crowns are less expensive but not nearly as durable as porcelain and porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns. If you’d like to learn more about the different types of crowns and which may be best for you, you can schedule a consultation with Berrien Dental at any time. The longevity of your crown depends upon the material you choose, but practicing great oral hygiene will play a role in helping your crown last longer. Dental crowns are permanent, however, so your crown will eventually need to be replaced with a new one when it wears out.

Dental Implants

When you’ve lost one or more teeth, dental implants are the best way to restore the appearance and function of your missing teeth while protecting your future oral health. Dental implants consist of a titanium metal rod that’s embedded directly into your jaw to replace your natural tooth root. It’s then fitted with a dental restoration, which can be a dental crown, bridge, partial dentures, or full dentures. This versatility allows them to replace a single missing tooth or an entire set of missing teeth, while the implants’ deep titanium roots restore the natural function of your missing teeth. They feel just as natural as they look, providing a level of stability that allows you to eat all of your favorite foods without worrying about whether or not your restorations can stay in place. Implants also prevent—and even reverse, to some extent—the bone loss in your jaw that’s caused when you lose a tooth. In most cases, getting dental implants requires you to have some amount of healthy jawbone structure and is a months-long process that may not be right for everyone. They last a lifetime and feel so natural, however, that the treatment is worth the wait for many patients.

A confident, carefree smile doesn’t need to feel like a luxury of the past. A smile makeover can transform your smile, creating a smile you genuinely can’t wait to show off! If you’d like to learn more about smile makeovers and which procedures may benefit you from a “dentist near me,” feel free to call our office and set up a consultation or fill in an appointment request online.

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