No matter how great your oral hygiene routine is, there’s always going to be one thing that threatens your beautiful smile—time. Everything wears down as it ages, and people are no exception. While there may be no remedy for aging yet, there are some things you can do to combat the wear and tear that getting older can do to your teeth.
Seeking out cosmetic dentistry in Edwardsville can be one of those things. There are a number of procedures available to you that can brighten your smile and leave you feeling younger and healthier and even make you look smarter and more successful.
While it’s always important to stay on top of your oral hygiene routine no matter how old you are, these cosmetic procedures can help improve the appearance of your smile.
Cosmetic Dental Procedures that Offer a Whole Smile Makeover
There are some easy and effective ways to alter your smile at a cosmetic dental office. Here are some of the most common procedures we do at our office here in Edwardsville, along with the dental issues they can fix.
Teeth Whitening
Unappealing staining or discoloration on your teeth can be caused by foods like tomato sauce or dark-colored berries, drinks like coffee or red wine, and smoking or chewing tobacco. And while these things are avoidable, aging is one culprit that, unfortunately, is not.
Thankfully, professional teeth whitening can even combat the tooth discoloration that happens as we age. A simple in-office or at-home procedure may be able to wipe away those stains, leaving you with a bright and healthy smile.
Bonding
Our teeth become weaker as we get older, leaving them susceptible to small cracks and chips that can really affect the appearance of our smiles. You can avoid hard foods or bad habits, like chewing on ice or pen caps, if you want to keep your teeth intact, but that may not be enough.
Should you wind up with an unsightly chip in your tooth, you can always go to your cosmetic dentist for some dental bonding.
Dental bonding involves the repair of a damaged tooth with the help of composite resin material that is designed to look and feel like a natural tooth. The procedure is a fast and non-invasive one that can easily improve the appearance of your smile in a single visit to the cosmetic dentist.
Veneers
Dental veneers are one of the most effective ways to get a smile makeover in a hurry. These thin shells are made to fit over your front-facing teeth to address a variety of cosmetic issues, including chips, cracks, uneven spacing, unusually shaped teeth, slightly crooked teeth, tooth gaps, tooth discoloration, and more.
Dental veneers are matched to the existing teeth to give them a natural look while improving the appearance of your smile significantly.
It’s important to keep in mind, though, that this procedure is designed to improve primarily upon minor cosmetic issues. Significant tooth damage or misalignment issues will need to be addressed through other treatments.
Crowns
A dental crown is a small cover that is designed to look and feel like a natural tooth. It can be placed over a tooth that has experienced significant damage or decay, sometimes in a single dental visit.
Your dentist will treat the affected tooth, removing all of the decay so it can no longer spread and cause further problems. Then, they will fix the crown over the tooth using special dental cement.
Crowns are also used in a variety of other dental procedures, such as root canals and dental bridges. Should you be missing teeth, a dental bridge can replace them easily by fixing a crown onto the existing teeth on either side of the gap. This structure provides support to attached prosthetic teeth.
Cosmetic dentistry is not just a decorative enhancement.
The appearance of your smile is important. After all, it can mean the difference between feeling a sense of self-confidence whenever you flash your teeth and feeling embarrassed to smile in front of others. But improving the appearance of your teeth is not just about appearances.
Most cosmetic procedures also help to protect your oral health. Dental bonding and dental crowns are both capable of providing protection to vulnerable teeth that may develop cavities and lead to a number of oral health issues. Improving your smile can go a long way toward preventing further dental visits.
Looking for the best cosmetic dentistry in Edwardsville?
Addressing cosmetic issues with your teeth can be a life-changing decision. If you are in need of cosmetic dentistry in Edwardsville, contact Hite Family Dentistry today to learn more.
