Your smile tells a lot about your wellbeing, how you look after your health, and the age you appear to be. Teeth are important components of your body that without them, you suffer from embarrassment, pain, loss of facial structure, loss of eating ability and malnutrition.
Either saving your teeth or finding a way to reconstruct damage done by various dental diseases, is a necessity which has many options to meet your needs and your budget.
Cosmetic Dental Needs
Whether you like it or not, it is depressing though a valid truth that people judge a book from its cover. You have but one chance to create a first impression.
Cosmetic dental care provides both natural and psychological enrichment features. An unsightly smile can cause you misery, but a stunning smile can promote your self-esteem.
The structure of your mouth is wholly dependent on you keeping as many of your teeth as is possible throughout your life. Teeth end up being lost through early removal to provide more room for incoming teeth, through damage resultant from accidents or injury, through decay, and from failed root canals.
In times gone by, the only option for lost or decaying teeth was to remove all the remaining teeth and fit the person with dentures. Dentures can still be fitted today for situations that warrant this extensive removal of your teeth, and the materials used are varied both in their manufacturing process and their cost. As much as the expectation is to have a full set of natural looking teeth, this is an expectation may fall far short of the dream.
Cosmetic Dental Treatment Solutions
Cosmetic dentistry has come a long way with the huge leaps in technology available to dental professionals around the world. Some of the choices you have include:- Partials
- Bridges
- Crowns
- Veneers
- Dental implants
Partials still run a close race with dentures due to their very nature and their past use as a typical replacement option. If used for front teeth, you may feel they do not look natural.
Bridges are the next item as we work ourselves up the list of options. Bridges are usually made to replace a series of several teeth that have been lost due to decay, failed root canals, or injury. The bridge is generally attached to the natural teeth that remain on either end of the area to be filled. This is done by taking those two end teeth, removing a portion of their surface and covering them with a crown which is attached permanently to the bridge. The bridge is of a solid material and usually made from porcelain, but can contain more metals if cost is an issue. Obviously, the porcelain is easier to blend with the natural teeth and presents a more stable chewing surface.
Crowns are used to replace individual teeth, again, that have been damaged by decay. Often a tooth that has suffered extensive decay will also require a root canal. The root canal serves to clean out the dead material in the root, yet keep the structure of the tooth intact. The exposed surface of the tooth is too damaged to be able to take a proper filling. This is when the choice to have a crown made is the best option available. Crowns are usually stable and secure, and are made of a porcelain material, which is engineered to match your natural teeth as closely as possible.
The use of veneers has become extremely popular, and is widely used by many movie and film starts. Veneers are thin wafer-like porcelain covers which are attached to your natural teeth with a permanent bonding material. They cover discolored teeth and straighten out otherwise uneven alignments. The result of this procedure is stunning and a very quick way to totally reconstruct your smile.
And finally, let's look at dental implants as an option to replace lost teeth and regain the proper structure of your mouth. Implants are used to prevent or even regain bone loss from the missing tooth socket, they help keep your facial structure intact, and the look of an implant is so closely matched to your natural teeth, that there is no obvious difference. And the best thing is that an implant can last up to 40 years.
Cosmetic dental care comes with many options and budgetary requirements. Not only do you have the choices outlined above, but the choice of material used in the reconstruction options vary according to your dental practitioner and your own needs and budget.
Isn't it time you discover ways to make the most of your smile. Speak with your dental professional to learn about the options available for your unique smile enhancement.
