If your teeth aren’t as impressive or effective as you really want them to be, or if your smile is not as welcoming as you’d hope, then this can affect both your health and levels of self-confidence.

In such circumstances, a range of proven and widely used cosmetic dentistry solutions are available. Here’s a useful introduction to five most appreciated by patients.

1. Teeth Whitening

Perhaps most obviously transformational when you notice up-and-coming Hollywood stars whose smile has turned from dull to sparkling!

There are many over-the-counter treatments, but these are often not medically-proven applications, and can take many months to show any real improvement – if ever. Professional cosmetic dentistry teeth whitening uses gel and is both safe and proven to be swiftly effective, whether involving an in-practice ultraviolet, or at-home mouth tray, treatment.

If you are a coffee or red wine lover, or your teeth suffer from other discolourings which even professional cleaning can’t completely remove, the difference is often marked and favourably remarked upon!

2. Dental Veneers

Such treatments are superb for restoring chips and cracks, or for assisting patients in combating serious and on-going discolouring of their teeth.

Veneers of thin porcelain or a composite resin can also help mask oddly shaped or misaligned teeth. The process involves placing a thin, custom-created, covering, one that is both shaped and coloured to enhance your natural smile, over a tooth. A further benefit is in the additional protection they can then provide.

3. Dental Implants

When one or more teeth are lost through disease, have been previously removed during a treatment, or perhaps lost in an accident of some kind, then this can affect both the function and overall look of your mouth.

Dental implants are cylindrical in shape, composed of medical grade titanium, and anchored to your jaw, where they biologically bond with healthy bone. A ceramic implant can then be attached to provide a superb and stable match to the rest of your teeth.

4. Dental Crowns

Previously mentioned crowns come in a variety of materials, such as metal and porcelain fusions, or resin, as well as ceramic. The artificial crown (can also be called a tooth cap) fits over your tooth and replaces the natural one previously visible above gum level.

Crowns add great strength, longevity and stability to damaged teeth, as well as greatly improving the look each time you smile. A first visit to your dentist allows an impression to be made and a temporary crown fitted. The second visit then replaces this with your uniquely-created permanent crown.

5. Dental Bridges

When a space is left by a missing tooth – whether accidentally damaged or infected, then leading to extraction – it’s loss is always so obvious to the owner of the mouth, and often to others as well.

A popular solution literally bridges the gap. This prosthetic device is held in place by your existing teeth and can be provided in traditional, cantilever, and resin bonded (also called Maryland) options.

Choosing the Treatment Best Suited for You

The above, and other cosmetic dentistry treatments, are not to be entered into lightly. It’s best to take the time to carefully discuss the possibilities with your dentist, who will take you through all the necessary detail, and the cost implications of each possible choice.

It has been said that you can’t put a price on a smile. In this case, it’s important to do so, as it will be one of the key deciding factors, although perhaps behind ensuring the outcome you desire.

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