Cosmetic dentistry is generally used to refer to any dental work that improves the appearance of a person’s smile, teeth or gums. A combination of lifestyle and personal factors can result in teeth changing in appearance over the years. Changes in appearance of teeth can be caused by:
Depending on the problem, the cosmetic solution can be very simple and inexpensive or could be more involved. Cosmetic dentistry can involve;
To find out more, call us during business hours on 9474-1477 or send us an email. Alternatively, scroll down to the bottom of this page and fill out the contact form and we’ll be in touch within one business day.
For more detailed information about specific cosmetic dental procedures, read on!
Anything you put in our mouth has the potential to stain your teeth – if it can stain a white shirt, then it can stain our teeth!
Having your teeth professionally cleaned means that the staining that builds up on the outside of your teeth can be removed and in most cases, this will improve the appearance and the colour of your teeth. Some stains can not be removed by professional cleaning alone.
Above: Before and After Photos of Teeth Whitening Procedure (click the enlarge)
For teeth that have not responded sufficiently to professional cleaning or if you are not happy with the internal colour of your teeth, whitening can improve their appearance. Teeth Whitening is ideal for undamaged teeth that only need lightening in colour. It is important to know that some stains within the tooth structure can not be improved, and some teeth will not whiten evenly.
Whitening works best for teeth that are yellow, brown or orange. Teeth with grey staining will lighten a little, but results will not be as good. Sometimes if you have sensitive teeth, gum disease or worn teeth, whitening your teeth will do more harm than good.
Sometimes root canal treated teeth darken over the years and can be whitened ‘internally’, whereas normal whitening is done externally.
To learn more about our tooth whitening and risks, visit our Teeth Whitening page.
If you are a candidate for whitening and you are happy with your result, you can keep your teeth white by whitening them regularly (we recommend yearly after your regular professional cleaning) for a few days or ‘refreshing’ every couple of years.
Sometimes, the only thing wrong with someone’s teeth is that they are just in the wrong place! Invisalign® and traditional braces will improve the appearance of your teeth by moving them into the right place.
Invisalign® involves a series of very thin, removable, clear plastic tooth guards that are worn all the time (usually for 1-3 years) to slowly move the teeth into the position that we want them to be in.
Invisalign® generally takes longer than the traditional metal braces, but is a great option for people who don’t want to have visible metal braces. Once your teeth are straightened, if your teeth are not maintained in their position with removable or fixed retainers (for the rest of your life), then they can move back into the position that they were prior to having your teeth moved.
Learn more about Invisalign and teeth alignment in the video below:
When our adult teeth are moving into position, sometimes our gums get ‘stuck’ on the tooth and move with the tooth rather than staying where they are supposed to be. This means that often teeth can end up looking ‘too short’, or your smile can look like you have ‘too much gum’.
Having braces and some medications can also cause our gums to ‘overgrow’ and we end up having too much gum around the teeth and the teeth don’t appear to be the shape that they should be.
With our Waterlase® MD Laser, we can remove the excess gum tissue to give you the gum line that you were meant to have. The gum generally does not “re-grow” (it can in medication induced overgrowth or on cases of poor tooth brushing/cleaning) and there is minimal discomfort after the procedure.
Above: A more detailed look at the complete smile makeover
Some teeth have stains within the outer enamel layer that are not affected by, or have minimal colour change with whitening. Sometimes we are able to remove these stains by polishing the outer layer of enamel off the tooth - this is called Micro-abrasion.
Micro-abrasion works well for some teeth and can cause some temporary, mild sensitivity. Unfortunately if the stain goes through the tooth rather than staying at the surface, a permanent covering (like a tooth coloured filling, veneer or crown) on top of the stain will be needed to change the appearance of the tooth.
Below: Before and Shots of a Micro-abrasion treatment (click to enlarge)
Odontoplasty sounds complicated, but its not! Odontoplasty is reshaping teeth to change the height or the shape of the tooth to give it a different appearance. For example, if you have pointy canine teeth and think you look like a vampire, we can flatten off the points of the teeth to give them a smoother, more even look.
Another example is if your lower teeth are slightly crowded and look “jagged”, we can smooth them all off to the one level so it gives the appearance that your teeth are straight. Sometimes as with micro-abrasion, you can get mild, temporary sensitivity on the teeth that have been re-shaped.
Below: Odontoplasty Teeth Reshaping before and after photos (click to enlarge)
Amalgam is a metal filling material that has been used in dentistry for over a hundred years. It is a strong, long lasting filling (10-20 years) but in the long term, teeth with amalgam fillings tend to be weaker and your tooth can darken, crack or break.
Below: Amalgam Replacement before and after procedure (click to enlarge)
If your amalgam filling is lost or needs to be replaced, it is replaced with a tooth coloured filling to improve the overall appearance and is replaced in a way to prevent the tooth from breaking again.
Tooth coloured fillings have an adhesive bond to the tooth and the tooth tends to be stronger, but the filling has a shorter life span (5-8years) when compared to amalgam fillings.
Tooth coloured fillings may also insulate the teeth from temperature changes as they don’t transfer heat/cold as well as metal. We can also add tooth coloured filling material to change the shape of your front teeth or close gaps. Most of the time if a tooth has had a large amalgam filling in it and it has cracked or broken, your tooth may need a crown to strengthen the tooth: if your tooth is more ‘filling’ than ‘tooth’, it is not strong!
Veneers are like false fingernails for your teeth. They are usually thin coatings of either composite resin (plastic) or porcelain that covers the front of the tooth only.
Veneers are excellent in changing the shape of chipped, mildly crowded, or misshapen teeth, filling in gaps between teeth, or discoloured teeth that have not been fixed by whitening or micro-abrasion.
If there is evidence of tooth grinding where you want the veneers to be placed, crowns will likely be needed as veneers will fracture, chip or fall off in someone who grinds or clenches their teeth. Once veneers are placed, they need to be treated gently, cleaned and checked regularly as they can chip and fracture as they are so thin.
Porcelain veneers are generally resistant to staining and have a much more natural appearance than composite veneers, which tend to stain easily. If a porcelain veneer is fractured or chipped, it generally will need to be replaced as they can not be repaired.
Its important that the colour and size of your veneers is correct – we’ve included some examples of poor quality veneers below as well as porcelain veneers before and after shots.
Crowns are basically a ‘tooth shaped thimble’ or ‘tooth shaped helmet’ that sits over the top of a tooth to hold it all together and give it strength. A tooth may need a crown because it has cracked, broken or will break in the future, is root canal treated, has a large filling, has no strength, is wearing down over time, or the colour of the tooth has changed. Crowns are usually made of gold, metal and porcelain or all porcelain and the different types are used in different places in your mouth. Crowns are the longest lasting, strongest option to restore your tooth and we can match the colour of the porcelain exactly to the adjacent teeth. Depending on your tooth’s history, there is around about a 10% risk that your tooth’s nerve will die in the future after having a crown placed. If this happens, your tooth will need a root canal treatment or to be taken out.
If you need to have a tooth taken out, you will be left with a gap. Some people adapt well to having a missing tooth, and others hate it because of how it feels or looks and want the space to be filled. When we have spaces in our mouths the teeth either side of the gap, and above or below the gap can (but not always) move into the space left by the missing tooth – sometimes causing problems with your bite.
Spaces can be filled in by removable dentures, or non removable bridges or implants, and the teeth filling the space can be matched to suit the shape and colour of your natural teeth either side of the space. Each procedure has it’s risks, which are discussed with your dentist prior to deciding on any treatment options.
Below: Tooth Implant before and after shots (click to enlarge)
To find out more or discuss a specific procedure, call us during business hours on 9474-1477 or if you’re reading this afterhours, email us on [email protected] for fill out the form below.
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