Are you tired of internet misdirects and buy-and-get-result products that did not brighten your smile as promised? If yes, you're not the only one. An assured way out of this loop is cosmetic dental procedures—simple, painless, affordable.
Cosmetic dentistry is professional health care for your mouth that works with enhancing certain attributes of your teeth like their position, size, shape, and color. It improves, sometimes even dramatically so, the look of your teeth, mouth, and subsequently smile, and helps in restoration of oral health flaws. The lo-res of painful cosmetic dentistry from an unidentified pass of time might have made you second-think, but in today's era, the advanced technology checks it in as a no pain, greater comfort, lasting results treatment.
Here’s a breakdown of 5 most common procedures of cosmetic dentistry:
1. Teeth Whitening
As this self-explanatory term suggests, this procedure helps you brighten your teeth, and remains a popular opinion amongst people who have fairly aligned, proportioned teeth and only need a dash of brightening to get their perfect smile.
Teeth whitening uses peroxide-based bleaching agents. A dentist uses 15% to 43% of peroxide content in the solution they use for bleaching your teeth. The duration of a peroxide solution that should be used is inversely proportional to its percentage content. Long exposures to high percentages may lead to problems such as sensitivity, and tooth dehydration.
2. Dental Implants
A dental implant focuses on replacing the site of a missing tooth with an artificial tooth. It includes embedding the phony tooth within the jaw, and assists to close the detrimental gap that might cause loosening of surrounding teeth, leaving them vulnerable to more decay.
The color of these ceramic teeth is almost always blended in with its natural neighbors, ticking off a major worry of it sticking out like a sore thumb. The dentist works a tiny titanium screw into the jaw to uphold this implant, securing it permanently at its pre-decided position and site. Although a need for heedful oral hygiene arises during the treatment period, and after a few days, no extensive measures are required afterward.
3. Enamel Bonding
It applies a tooth-colored composite resin to repair decayed, discolored, or disfigured teeth. It is also extensively used as a low-budget option to close up gaps between teeth, to give them a new, desired shape, or to protect a tooth if gum shows signs of receding. Another appeal to enamel bonding is its low duration, minimally invasive nature, and that the entire procedure of enamel bonding may only take about an hour to half within a single appointment.
In this procedure, the dentist removes the surface enamel of your tooth to properly reshape it with the composite used in the treatment. A bonding agent is then added, and the teeth are smoothened using a special light so it does not leave a rough feel behind. It may not require diligent care but hard or chewy foods shall be avoided.
4. Dental Veneers
Dental veneers are tooth-colored, water-thin, cap-like structures customized individually to cover the front surface of your teeth, often referred to as dental porcelain laminates or dental porcelain veneers. It is a modified version of enamel bonding, used for the same problems the former is used for. It is also used for people who have stains on their teeth that do not fade with bleaching.
It involves filing down the tooth enamel, then taking an impression. Unlike enamel composite, this impression is used to form your personalized veneer from a dental lab. Temporary veneers are implanted on your filed down teeth until the permanent ones are made, and are then applied to each tooth with the help of a dental adhesive.
5. Invisalign Braces
Braces are one of the most popularly known techniques of cosmetic dentistry. It not only aligns your teeth to match desired standards to achieve better looks but also works behind the scenes to stop your ailments or problems caused by this dealignment like headache, open mouth, jaw pain, etc. But as the thought goes, braces are so uncomfortable, and self-esteem jabbing with its full-on metal smile.
An outlet to this situation is Invisalign braces. It slowly moves your teeth using clear-tray aligners which are crafted from a plastic that has enough strength to pressurize your teeth into movement.
The dentist takes a digital 3D scan of your teeth that allows them to form a custom plan for you. Then the clear-tray aligners are installed, followed by 6 to 8 weeks appointments to gauge your progress. Assessed by complexity, this treatment may take from anywhere above six months, then a retainer plate is given to avoid an immediate rebound.
Overall benefits of cosmetic dental procedures:
To tackle several problems at once has proven to be a worthy consideration when it comes to cosmetic dentistry. Here are its top 5 benefits:
1. Economic Treatment
When compared to other treatments, cosmetic dentistry always tops the cost-effective quota.
2. Oral Health Optimization
Cracked, decayed, or severely misaligned teeth aren't just a problem relating to their appearance, it affects your oral, as well as overall health. By reducing these problems, cosmetic dentistry helps you maintain healthy gums and stronger teeth.
3. Appearance Enhancement
As it restores almost every facial flaw in your teeth, your smile automatically becomes radiant. Moreover, treatments like braces create visible change in your jaw structure that renders betterment to your appearance.
4. Self-confidence Boost
It feels very awkward to have someone stare at your teeth because of their apparent flaws, and it ends up tainting that confidence you have mustered for your important occasion. A treatment through cosmetic dentistry hands you that boost you need to save your day.
5. Long-lasting Effects
Some of the effects of the treatment of cosmic dentistry may last decades before the beginning of their rebound period. Others, although not as long, still last better than internet fads, and products that do not help.