Cosmetic dental care is important and requires attention. Americans tend to take great pride in their teeth, and the quality of dental care here is both very high and very prevalent. A good rule of thumb with dental care is that prevention is the best cure; as my dentist says, “You don’t have to floss all your teeth, just the ones you want to keep!” Remember, be true to your teeth or they will be false to you.

The American Dental Association (ADA) advocates yearly check-ups and cleanings, and daily flossing and brushings. These measures go a long way toward preventing cavities and more serious dental problems, such as gingivitis, a gum disease that can lead to tooth loss.

Whitening of the teeth is performed for patients who desire a brighter smile. Tooth whitening can be performed to reduce discoloration and staining, or simply to provide the patient with whiter, brighter teeth.

How white your teeth can become from bleaching and whitening is a common question with a very subjective answer. Some whitening procedures claim they can whiten your teeth by up to nine shades, but that is highly unlikely. Just a change of two or three shades will make a significant difference in just about anyone’s smile. There is no one standard system in the dental field to measure and determine tooth color. The most often heard about, however, is the Vita shade guide. This guide divides tooth color into four basic shade ranges:

A (reddish brown)
B (reddish yellow)
C (gray)
D (reddish gray).

In the A range there are five levels of darkness. Ranges B, C and D, each have four levels.
Not all of your teeth are the same natural color. Usually your eye teeth tend to be darker than the others, your front teeth are typically the whitest, and molars tend to be a shade between the two. The goal for everyone is to achieve their individual optimum whiteness while still looking natural. During your first consultation for tooth whitening, your dentist will go over what you personally can expect for your specific smile. How white teeth will become from a given procedure will vary from person to person. The structure of your teeth and the type of procedure implemented will affect the outcome.

Teeth whitening is used to correct discoloration of the teeth by removing the brown and yellow staining. The term “teeth whitening” can refer to a number of techniques to improve the brightness of the patient’s teeth. Among them are chemical whitening, mild acid whitening, abrasive teeth brightening and the newest technique, laser teeth whitening.

The dental bonding procedure utilizes a composite resin and is used for a variety of structural as well as cosmetic purposes. One can draw a parallel between dental bonding materials and a sculptor’s clay. By using dental composite resin bonding your dentist can restore chipped or broken teeth, fill in gaps and reshape or recolor your smile.

What is tooth bonding?

Bonding is a composite resin filling placed in the back teeth as well as the front teeth. Composites are the solution for restoring decayed teeth, making cosmetic improvements and even changing the color of your teeth or the reshaping of teeth. Bonding will lighten any stains you may have, close up minor gaps and can be used to correct crooked teeth. Basically, bonding will cover any natural flaws applying a thin coating of a plastic material on the front surface of your teeth. After this, your cosmetic dentist will apply a bonding material and sculpt, color and shape it to provide a pleasing result. A high-intensity light then hardens the plastic, and the surface is finely polished.

How long does tooth bonding last?

While the traditional silver fillings last about seven years, these composites should last about seven to eleven years.

Porcelain veneers are ultra-thin shells of ceramic material, which are bonded to the front of teeth. This procedure requires little or no anesthesia, and can be the ideal choice for improving the appearance of the front teeth. Porcelain veneers are placed to mask discolorations, to brighten teeth, and to improve a smile. Highly resistant to permanent staining from coffee, tea, or even cigarette smoking, the wafer-thin porcelain veneers can achieve a tenacious bond to the tooth, resulting in an esthetically pleasing naturalness that is unsurpassed by other restorative options.

Why porcelain veneer?

Porcelain veneers are an excellent alternative to crowns in many situations. They provide a much more conservative approach to changing a tooth’s color, size, or shape. Porcelain veneers can mask undesirable defects, such as teeth stained by tetracycline, by an injury, or as a result of a root-canal procedure, and are ideal for masking discolored fillings in front teeth. Patients with gaps between their front teeth or teeth that are chipped or worn may consider porcelain veneers. Generally, veneers will last for many years, and the technique has shown remarkable longevity when properly performed.

Implants are very durable and will last many years. They require the same “maintenance” as real teeth, including brushing, flossing and regular dental check-ups. Dental implants can help restore almost anyone’s smile even if natural teeth have been lost to injury or disease.

A very common reason people consider implants is because a sliding lower denture makes chewing and talking difficult. Implants can also replace individual teeth and partial bridges in the upper and lower jaws. The majority of patients treated with dental implants experience a significant improvement in their ability to chew food and feel more comfortable.

Dental implants are permanent fixtures of titanium posts anchored to the jawbone and topped with individual replacement teeth or a bridge that screws or cements into the posts. Implant technology and materials used today in the United States were developed more than 30 years ago in Europe. The success rate for implants is remarkable: 98 percent for lower implants and 91 percent for upper implants.

To treat a cavity your dentist will remove the decayed portion of the tooth and then “fill” the area on the tooth where the decayed material once lived. Fillings are also used to repair cracked or broken teeth and teeth that have been worn down from misuse (such as from nail-biting or tooth grinding).

Dental bridges literally bridge the gap created by one or more missing teeth. A bridge is made up of two crowns for the teeth on either side of the gap – these two anchoring teeth are called abutment teeth – and a false tooth/teeth in between. These false teeth are called pontics and can be made from gold, alloys, porcelain or a combination of these materials. Dental bridges are supported by natural teeth or implants.

A denture is a removable replacement for missing teeth and surrounding tissues. Two types of dentures are available – complete and partial dentures. Complete dentures are used when all the teeth are missing, while partial dentures are used when some natural teeth remain.

Complete dentures can be either “conventional” or “immediate.” Made after the teeth have been removed and the gum tissue has begun to heal, a conventional denture is ready for placement in the mouth about 8 to 12 weeks after the teeth have been removed

A partial denture is a removable appliance that replaces missing teeth. It is held in place by your existing teeth. It is important that these teeth be healthy in order to support your partial; often they may need treatment prior to making the partial.

Why Have A Partial Made? A partial can restore aesthetics and function to your mouth. Since you lost some teeth you may find it more difficult to chew as well as you used to. The partial can give you back much of this function, though not as much as natural teeth. A partial can also help stabilize your remaining teeth. This stabilization can minimize tooth drift, bite changes, and periodontal problems.

Root canal treatment removes the pulp from the center of a tooth when decay will likely damage or has already killed the tooth. It is done to prevent the development of a painful infection in the pulp that may spread to other teeth and to treat an infection that has developed into an abscessed tooth. This procedure can relieve toothache, stop infection, and promote healing.

A crown can restore the shape to teeth that have been broken, suffered extensive decay or been worn down. They can also be used to strengthen a weak tooth or add beauty to a discolored or misshapen smile. Crowns can be gold, porcelain or a combination porcelain over metal.

A natural tooth has a crown – the part which shows above the gumline, and a root – the anchor hidden below the gumline. When a tooth is missing, a dental implant takes the place of the missing root.

Preventive dentistry is the modern way of reducing the amount of dental treatment necessary to maintain a healthy mouth.

It helps you to keep your teeth. The two major causes of tooth loss are decay and gum disease. The better we prevent or deal with these two problems, the more chance people have of keeping their teeth for life. The joint efforts of the dentist, the hygienist and the patient, can help to prevent the need for treatment, and so avoid the traditional pattern of fillings and extractions.

A course of treatment may be recommended to get your mouth into good condition, and a maintenance plan will be worked out to help you keep it that way

Our teeth are constantly being covered with a sticky film of bacteria called plaque. When we eat or drink anything that contains sugar or starch-such as milk, bread, cookies, candy, soda, juice, fruit and many other foods and beverages-bacteria turn the sugar and starch into acids that can attack tooth enamel. For some people, repeated acid attacks may eventually result in decay.

One of the most common places that tooth decay develops is on the chewing surfaces of the back teeth, called premolars and molars. When you run your tongue along the chewing surfaces of the back teeth, you can feel depressions and grooves. These indentations, called pits and fissures, help to grind food.

Regular brushing and cleaning between teeth with floss or another interdental cleaner helps remove food particles and bacteria from the smooth surfaces of tooth enamel. However, pits and fissures are difficult to keep clean. That’s because toothbrush bristles cannot reach into the microscopic grooves to remove plaque bacteria and tiny particles of food.

Fluoride is a substance that strengthens tooth enamel. This helps to prevent dental cavities. Fluoride is used as a medication to prevent tooth decay in people that have a low level of fluoride in their drinking water. Fluoride is also used to prevent tooth decay in people who undergo radiation of the head and/or neck, which may cause dryness of the mouth and an increased incidence of tooth decay.

Gingivitis is an inflammation of the gums surrounding the teeth. Gingivitis is one of many periodontal diseases that affect the health of the periodontium (those tissues that surround the teeth and include the gums, soft tissues, and bone).

Periodontal diseases are often classified according to their severity. They range from mild gingivitis, to more severe periodontitis, and finally acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis, which can be life threatening. Bacteria can cause inflammation of the gums. Although bacteria are normally found in our bodies and provide protective effects most of the time, bacteria can be harmful.

The mouth is a great place for bacteria to live. The warm, moist environment and constant food supply are everything bacteria need to thrive. If not for a healthy immune system, bacteria in the mouth would rapidly reproduce out of control overwhelming the body’s defense system. An infection begins when the body’s immune system is overwhelmed. Gingivitis is an infection that occurs when bacteria invade soft tissues, bone, and other places that bacteria should not be. At the moment of infection, bacteria no longer help us, they begin to harm us. Infections, like other diseases, range from mild to severe or life threatening.