Cosmetic

Teeth Whitening | Veneers | Crowns & Bridges | Composite Bonding

Teeth Whitening

Everyone's teeth darken to some degree over time. Changes in the shade of your teeth can be caused by aging, the types of food and beverages consumed, childhood medications or illnesses and tobacco use. If restoring your natural white smile is a priority, then we are here to help you.

Tooth whitening services are growing in popularity, and it’s one of the most requested services offered by our practice. In dentistry we see the growing consumer market focused on whiter teeth. We provide a variety of options for whitening your smile so that you can select one that fits your life-style and budget. Our goal is to meet the needs of every patient, and every patient’s needs are different. Call us today for a whitening evaluation.

Nothing improves your appearance more than a bright, healthy smile!

Veneers

Veneers are thin, semi-translucent “shells” typically attached through a bonding procedure to your front teeth. Veneers are customized from porcelain material that is perfectly natural in shape and shade. Veneers are a great alternative to otherwise painful dental procedures to improve the appearance of your smile.

Common esthetic problems that veneers improve:

Spaces between the teeth
Fractured or chipped teeth
Unsightly, stained or discolored teeth
Congenitally misshapened
Crooked or misaligned teeth

Veneers are a great aesthetic solution to your smile that may even help you avoid orthodontic treatment. Subtle changes to your smile can be achieved with veneers, and in most cases, veneer application is completed in only two office visits.

Please contact our office if you have any further questions regarding veneers.

Composite Bonding

Bonding is a common solution for:

Repairing chipped or cracked teeth
Reducing unsightly gaps or spaces between teeth
Hiding discoloration or faded areas on the tooth’s surface

This procedure is often used to improve the appearance of your teeth and enhance your smile. As the name indicates, composite filling material, is bonded to an existing tooth. Unlike veneers or crowns, composite bonding removes little, if any, of the original tooth.

Composite bonding has many advantages:

It is a quick process, which typically takes less than one hour.
It does not reduce the tooth’s original structure and is relatively inexpensive.
Composite resins come in many different shades and provide better matching of shades to the natural color of your teeth.
Composite bonds, however, are not as durable and long-lasting as veneers and crowns and may need to be re-touched or replaced in the future.

Composite bonds may stain more easily and therefore require proper care and regular cleaning. In order to ensure the longest possible duration of the bonding, composites should be brushed and flossed daily. Common staining elements include coffee, tea, tobacco, foods and candy.

Crowns and Bridges

Crowns
A crown is a permanent covering that fits over a tooth that had been damaged by decay or stress fracture. Crowns are made of a variety of different materials such as porcelain, gold, acrylic resin or a mix of these materials. Porcelain generally has the most natural appearance, and the state of the product is always improving in strength and appearance.

The treatment plan for a patient receiving a crown involves:

Numbing the tooth to remove the decay in or around it.
Re-sculpturing the tooth to provide an ideal fit for the crown.
Taking an impression of your teeth in order to create a custom-made crown
Making a temporary crown out of acrylic resin and fitting it onto the tooth during the interim period while the permanent custom-made crown is being created.
Applying the permanent crown (when received from the lab) by removing the temporary crown and fitting the permanent one onto the tooth.
After ensuring that the crown has the proper look and fit, the dentist cements it into place.

This process generally consists of two visits completed within two weeks. Once the procedure is completed, proper dental hygiene, including daily brushing and flossing, is required to maintain healthy gum tissue and teeth. This helps in the prevention of gum disease and prolongs the life of the crown.

Bridges
A bridge is a dental device that fills a space that a tooth previously occupied. A bridge may be necessary to prevent:

Shifting of the teeth that can lead to bite problems and periodontal disease.
Bridges safeguard the integrity of existing teeth and help maintain a healthy, vibrant smile.

There are three main types of bridges, namely:

Fixed bridge- this is the most popular and consists of a filler tooth that is attached to two crowns, which fit over the existing teeth and hold the bridge in place.
The “Maryland” bridge is commonly used to replace missing front teeth and consists of a filler tooth that is attached to flat metal bands that are bonded to the back of the abutment teeth. The metal bands are coated in a tooth-colored composite resin .
The Cantilever bridge is often used when there are teeth on only one side of the span. A typical three-unit cantilever bridge consists of two crowned teeth positioned next to each other on the same side of the missing tooth space. The filler tooth is then connected to the two crowned teeth, which extend into the missing tooth space.