How important is your smile?

The smile is the first impression that we make on others. It is often a reflection of how we take care of our bodies. The mouth is a reflection of our overall health. While having a nice smile isn't a guarantee to success, it certainly doesn't hurt when you are trying to conduct business or communicate with others one-on-one. Often when patients fix their smiles, they tell us their self-confidence improves and that they feel like they don't have to hide their mouth when in social situations. There are several methods of improving one's smile and it can be as simple as having your teeth cleaned to replacing old stained fillings or fixing chipped teeth or missing teeth.

Who is a good candidate for cosmetic dentistry?

People that can benefit from cosmetic dentistry is just about most of the population to some degree. If you have spaces between your teeth, old discolored fillings, chips, pits or cracks in your teeth then those can all be repaired or corrected. In addition, if your teeth are rotated, crowded or overlapped or your smile has some teeth that are up higher or lower than the ones next to them, then orthodontics can be included in the conversation about cosmetic dentistry. Often, there is a functional benefit from doing the treatment and the cosmetic benefit is just secondary. Newer types of fillings have no metal in them (like the old amalgams which are part mercury and part silver and other metals) and they blend into the natural color of the teeth extremely well. All porcelain crowns are also becoming the most common type of crown used today because often they can be done more conservatively since they are bonded and we don't have any metal in them so they don't need to hide the margin below the gumline, only to have it possibly show up in five years if the gums recede.

What is cosmetic dentistry?

Cosmetic Dentistry is a broad area of dentistry encompassing a wide range of new technologies that not only restore function but also improve esthetics and attempt to provide as natural looking of a restoration as possible. Included in Cosmetic dentistry is white fillings, porcelain restorations, porcelain veneers, and teeth whitening.