Cosmetic Dentistry

Cosmetic Dental Procedures are performed to correct yellow, crooked, stained, injured or deformed teeth. Anything short of a "perfect" smile can be enhanced by cosmetic dentistry. By integrating natural-looking replacement materials with patients’ original teeth we can accomplish a comfortable and pleasing appearance for almost anyone. With cosmetic dental techniques, we can improve a patient’s smile as well as his or her self confidence.

Cosmetic Dental Procedures include whitening (see our section on whitening), Porcelain Veneers or Crowns, and tooth colored fillings, implants & dentures.

Veneers:
Veneers are very thin, tooth colored shells that are custom fit and bonded to the front sides of teeth to close gaps, cover stains, discolorations and correct chipped teeth.

Porcelain or Cosmetic Crowns:
Crowns are used to strengthen and improve the shape, size and color of teeth. They can support broken and weak teeth or those with very large fillings. Crowns can provide a smooth strong & affectively contoured surface for stained or broken teeth. They are necessary after a tooth has had a root canal. Finally, crowns aid to support the ends of bridges (connected crowns) and are also used on top of dental implants.

What does getting a crown involve?

A crown procedure usually requires 2 appointments. Your first appointment will require taking several highly accurate molds (or impression) that will be used to create your custom crown. A mold will also be used to create a temporary crown which will stay on your tooth for approximately 2 weeks until your new crown is fabricated by a dental laboratory.

While the tooth is numb the dentist will prepare the tooth by removing any decay and shaping the surface to properly fit the crown. Once this is done, your temporary crown will be placed with temporary cement and your bite will be checked.

At your second appointment your temporary crown will be removed, the Tooth will be cleaned and your new crown will be placed.

Composite Bonding:
By using materials that match the shade, translucency and texture of your teeth, cosmetic bonding can close gaps between teeth, and add chipped corners of broken teeth. Cosmetic Bonding can also be used to correct stained teeth.

Bonding for teeth involves the use of composite resin tooth colored filling material. This material can be used on front or back teeth. The procedure is sometimes referred to as bonding because an adhesive agent is used to bond the resin to the tooth structure.

Tooth Colored Fillings:
Now there are fillings specially designed to match the natural color of the tooth. Directly-bonded, tooth colored resin fillings can make a tooth look like new. These can be used to fill small areas of decay or to replace current fillings.

Cosmetic Dentistry