The advantages of having beautiful teeth go well beyond aesthetics. Learn the current procedures available to perfect our smile and radiate confidence.
Being born with a perfect smile used to be a highly enviable genetic gift, but now even those who didn’t make the cut in the gene pool can achieve a pearly white smile with some cosmetic dental assistance.
While traditional dentistry is integral in oral hygiene and preventing, diagnosing and treating oral disease, the current wave of dentistry is focused on improving the appearance of a person’s teeth, mouth and smile. Restorative and general dental practices address necessary treatment, whereas cosmetic dentists provide desired services.
The choice of treatments is wide and varied, from veneers, bridges, crowns and white fillings to computerised smile analyses that look at the harmony between lips, gums and teeth. On the following pages, we do the rounds of the most popular cosmetic dentistry treatments.
Crowns, bridges and fillings
Common methods for correcting slight aesthetic discrepancies or issues of tooth quality are crowns, bridges and fillings.
Crowns or caps are used to restore chipped teeth or replace broken teeth. An impression of the tooth is taken and the crown – made from metal or porcelain – is built in a laboratory to individual prescription, using a gold alloy covered with bonded porcelain. The old tooth is then cut down a millimetre or so to make room for the crown. The crown is then cemented to the tooth.
Bridges cover the gap where a tooth is missing or a gap is present. It entails a metal unit of three crowns and is fashioned from porcelain to blend with existing teeth, which is cemented to the teeth either side of the gap. These teeth are drilled down to attach the bridge either side of the gap. The middle crown is solid to mimic a tooth, the other two are hollow in order to fit over the teeth. Generally a couple of appointments are required and the results last from three years to fifteen years, if maintained properly.
White fillings are for people with smaller gaps, chipped teeth or filling the edge of a tooth. They are made of a composite of resin and glass particles, cemented onto the existing tooth using a bonding agent. One appointment is required and, while they are less resilient than veneers, results should last for around 15 years if cleaned properly.
Chipped, broken, discoloured or decayed teeth may be repaired or have their appearance corrected using a procedure called composite bonding. A dental composite material with the look of enamel is applied into the cavity or onto the surface of a tooth, where it is then sculpted into shape, contoured and hardened with a high-intensity light. The result is a restoration that blends invisibly with the remainder of the surrounding tooth structure and the rest of the natural teeth.
Teeth whitening
In the blossoming world of cosmetic dentistry, teeth whitening reigns supreme as arguably the most commonly recommended procedure. Teeth are often stained from poor oral hygiene or smoking, food, coffee, tea or red wine. Bleaching the teeth can enhance the appearance of your smile.
Universally valued by men and women alike, whitening (or bleaching) treatments are available to appeal to every budget and time frame. Whether in the form of one-hour bleaching sessions at your dentist’s office, or at-home bleaching kits, teeth whitening solutions abound. Virtually everyone who opts for this cosmetic treatment will see moderate to substantial improvement in the brightness and whiteness of their smile. However, teeth whitening is not a permanent solution and requires maintenance and repeat treatments for a prolonged effect.
There are three types of teeth whitening techniques to choose from: pure laser, kick-start laser and at-home kits. The pure laser technique is a quick fix to whiten teeth. It involves laser beams or light emitting wavelengths to provide an intense light that activates a whitening agent made from carbamide peroxide or hydrogen peroxide pasted onto the enamel of the tooth. This chemical reaction lifts the stain out of the enamel and is then washed away by the dentist. It takes about one-and-a-half hours and needs topping up once every three to six months.
With the second method, a mould of the teeth is taken by the dentist and a mouth guard made to exact specifications. The patient wears the mouthguard filled with a whitening gel made from carbamide peroxide or hydrogen peroxide of professional strength. ‘Kick start’ laser beams, or light emitting wavelengths, activate the gel pasted onto the enamel of the tooth. Two appointments, two weeks apart offer results of three to six months.
At-home teeth whitening can be in the form of a mouthguard filled with whitening gel or whitening strips. Both do not harm the teeth but slightly change the composition of the dentine – the part of a tooth that is hard, contains calcium and lies underneath the enamel – making it appear whiter. Results last between three and six months. Typically the home-use whitening products can’t achieve the bleaching effect from the dentist’s office, but it’s a good alternative for more superficial staining.
Dental implants
Dental implants are artificial tooth root replacements that are used as a part of prosthetic (artificial replacement) dentistry to compensate for tooth loss. Often the result is not only an enhanced smile, but also a more youthful appearance, since missing teeth cause the face to collapse and make you look older than you actually are.
Dental veneers
Dental veneers are custom-designed shells of tooth-like material that, when applied over the surface of a tooth, can cover worn tooth enamel, uneven tooth alignment or spacing, crowding, staining and chips or cracks. Veneers can also increase the dimension of the tooth, thicken them, and make them squarer or longer. Regardless of what causes unattractive teeth, dental veneers may solve most or even all cosmetic dental issues.
Second to this, the translucent quality of today’s veneers provides a more natural look than what’s been available in the past.
The veneer is bonded onto the front surface of the tooth using a chemical bonding agent, with some minimal drilling to curve the contours of the veneers in most cases.
The two most common materials used in the manufacture of dental veneers are composite resin and porcelain veneers. Both porcelain veneers and composite veneers can be fabricated by a dental technician in a dental laboratory and are bonded to the tooth with resin cement, but composite veneers can also be directly fabricated inside your mouth at the dentist. Of the two, porcelain veneers are longer lasting and more expensive.
Teeth straightening
There are two ways to straighten teeth, either cosmetically or with orthodontics (the area of dentistry concerned with the prevention and correction of irregularities of the teeth).
For people with crowded, crooked or tilting teeth, this is a viable solution.
Cosmetic teeth straightening can include reshaping the gums or applying veners (see previous page), whereas orthodontics uses metal or tooth-coloured braces or clear aligners (Invisalign) fitted inside the mouth. These are usually worn for one to three years, with appointments every four to eight weeks depending on the individual. Patients will be advised to wear a retainer after they are removed.
