Teeth Whitening
It’s hard to imagine anything more appealing than a sparkling, white smile. Yet our teeth rarely stay as white as we’d like them to without a little help. Fortunately, that help is available right here at the dental office
Teeth whitening done in a professional dental setting is a safe, effective way to brighten your smile. It’s also perhaps the most economical cosmetic dental procedure. Depending on the whitening method you choose, results can be dramatic: in-office whitening, for example, can lighten teeth three to eight shades in a single hour.
Professionally supervised whitening will work faster, and protect sensitive gums and tooth-root surfaces better, than over-the-counter whitening products. Having an oral exam before you begin any whitening process is an important first step, as we want to make sure your tooth discoloration is not the result of a dental condition in need of treatment. If you have any questions about which whitening method would be best for you, we would be happy to answer them.
Professional Whitening Methods
Professional whitening makes use of high-concentration bleaching gels that are not available over the counter.
In-Office Teeth Whitening
If you’d like to look your best for a special event but have little time to spare, our in-office “power bleaching” system can whiten your teeth by multiple shades, with stunning results, in under an hour.
Preparation – To protect delicate surrounding tissues, a rubber dam will be used to isolate your gums from your teeth. A bleaching gel made of hydrogen peroxide will then be applied to the surfaces of your teeth. The whitening procedure – The bleaching agents in the gel are then activated upon exposure to a dental lamp, penetrating deep within tooth enamel to lighten or altogether eradicate stains. Three 15-minute cycles typically achieve the desired level of whiteness, and the results are immediate and lasting.
Take-Home Teeth Whitening Kits
Patients may choose our high-quality take-home teeth bleaching kits for a number of reasons. The lower concentration of hydrogen peroxide in the take-home gel lessens the risk of gum or tooth sensitivity, including reactions to hot and cold foods and drinks. The take-home kits also allow our patients the freedom to bleach their teeth in the privacy of their own homes at their convenience. Mouth guards containing whitening gel are usually applied for several hours a day, for a period of one to three weeks. After treatment is complete, the aesthetic results are consistent with those achieved with our in-office teeth whitening procedure.
Benefits of Teeth Whitening
Like so many Americans, many of our patients consume coffee, tea, red wine, and other deeply colored foods and drinks as part of their regular diets. Some of these patients also smoke or take medications that can affect the pigmentation of the teeth. These are all staining agents that can cause teeth to become discolored over time. Our teeth whitening options can take years off your face, and ultimately lead to increased self-confidence. Our patients consistently attest to the lasting effect this simple procedure has had on improving their everyday life.
With regular dental cleaning and a good at-home oral hygiene regimen, the results of either our at-home or in-office whitening procedures can last for years. After treatment, some patients prefer to use a straw to sip dark-colored drinks to further extend the results of their teeth bleaching.
If you suffer from dental concerns in addition to staining, our comprehensive range of Cosmetic Dentistry services includes treatments such asporcelain veneers and dental crowns that can conceal chipped or cracked teeth and close noticeable gaps between teeth. We also offer a wide range of family dentistry options. We strongly believe that optimal oral health has a lasting and profound effect on your overall health and quality of life, and we are here to help you treat your mouth well.
For more information on teeth whitening and how we can improve your smile and your oral health, call our office at ———–or submit questions or a request to schedule an appointment.
FAQs
Gum Contouring
Gum line which is uneven or which falls too far below the lip line may affect the beauty of a smile. Such gums are referred as “gummy smile” by dentist. Fortunately such gums can be treated with a cosmetic procedure known as Gum Contouring.
Earlier patients with gummy smile were treated by a scalpel, which caused bleeding and an uncomfortable recovery. But at SCS with the use of laser dentistry technology, gums are sculpted with virtually painless procedure.
GUM CONTOURING METHOD
After administering a local anesthetic, to eliminate any discomfort. Then using a diode laser, the dentist will then cut away excess gum tissue and will sculpt a more uniform gum line. The bleeding and discomfort with a laser therapy is less. The entire procedure is complete in one visit at the dentist’s office.
BENEFITS OF GUM CONTOURING
Gum contouring will help to reshape the gum and to make your smile more beautiful.Teeth colored filling
If you have never had a cavity, congratulations! If you have had one, you are not alone. About 78% of us have had at least one cavity by the time we reach age 17, according to a 2000 report by the U.S. Surgeon General. Fortunately there’s a time-tested treatment for cavities: the dental filling.
Traditional Silver/Metal fillings are often composed of mercury, which, in addition to creating a black appearance. ‘Silver’ fillings contain 50 % of mercury. It can be harmful to our patient’s health. For this reason, we use only composite, or tooth-colored fillings. These fillings are less likely to cause tooth breakage like with silver/metal fillings. White fillings are also virtually undetectable which makes your smile healthy and beautiful at the same time.
Reasons for composite fillings:
- Chipped teeth.
- Closing space between two teeth.
- Cracked or broken teeth.
- Decayed teeth.
How are composite fillings placed?
- Fillings do just what the name implies — seal a small hole in your tooth, i.e., a cavity, caused by decay. This prevents the decay (a bacteria-induced infection) from spreading further into your tooth and, if untreated, continue on to the sensitive inner pulp (nerve) tissue located in the root canal. Should that happen, you would need root canal treatment.
- There are a variety of materials we use to fill teeth these days, but the process of filling a tooth is similar regardless. First, we do a clinical exam of the tooth and, with x-rays, determine the extent of the decay. Then we need to remove the decayed area of the tooth, usually with a dental drill or another handheld instrument. Your tooth will be anesthetized first, so you won’t feel any discomfort. If numbing injections normally provoke anxiety for you, please let us know; we can discuss medication to help with this. After we remove the decay, all debris is cleaned from the tooth, and then the filling material is applied.
What to Expect After Getting a Filling
- The numbness caused by your local anesthesia should wear off within a couple of hours. Until then, it’s best to avoid drinking hot or cold liquids, and eating on the side of your mouth with the new filling. Some sensitivity to hot and cold is normal in the first couple of weeks after getting a tooth filled. If it persists beyond that, or you have any actual pain when biting, please let us know. This could signal that a bite adjustment to your filling needs to be made.
- Continue to brush and floss as normal every day, and come in to the dental office at least twice per year for your regular checkups and cleanings. Tooth decay is a very preventable disease; with good oral hygiene and professional care, you can make your most recent cavity your last!
Tooth Reshaping
Tooth reshaping, also called dental contouring, is a cosmetic dentistry technique that removes small amounts of tooth enamel (the outer covering of the tooth) in order to change the shape, length, or surface of one or more teeth. The process is often combined with bonding, a cosmetic dentistry treatment that uses tooth-colored composite material to sculpt and shape the teeth.
What’s Involved in Tooth Reshaping and Dental Contouring?
Tooth reshaping is performed using dental instruments and abrasion techniques. Dental X-rays may be taken before the reshaping and contouring begin to ensure that your teeth are healthy. Your dentist will then mark your teeth with a pen to highlight areas that need sculpting. A sanding instrument is used to artfully eliminate or minimize imperfections on the surface of the teeth, and sandpaper-like strips may be used to contour the sides of the teeth. Finally, the teeth are smoothed and polished.
Advantages of Tooth Reshaping and Dental Contouring
Cost
This is an inexpensive way to improve the look of your teeth. The procedure generally costs depending on how much work is needed.
Painless
Because only surface enamel is removed in tooth reshaping and dental contouring, there’s generally no discomfort during the procedure and no anesthesia is required.
Improves
Health of teeth. Removing minor overlaps and other imperfections where tartar and plaque can build up lowers your risk of decay and gum disease.
Possible substitute for braces
In some situations, tooth reshaping and dental contouring can substitute for braces since they make teeth look a little straighter and eliminate minor overlapping.
Smile Design
While some people have naturally beautiful smiles, anyone else can get one for himself with the help of a cosmetic dentist.
Looking to change your career? Need to impress? Worried about your smile? Don’t let an unattractive smile keep you back. Often first impressions are lasting…? What are the causes make your smile Unattractive?
How Unattractive smile affects your personal and professional life?
Seeing a smile creates what is termed as a `halo’ effect, helping us to remember other happy events more vividly, feel more optimistic, more positive and more motivated. We have long been drawing attention to the fact that smiling increases happiness both in yourself and those around you, so it is good to receive the backing of this scientific research.
A healthy smile can improve your confidence, help you make friends and help you to succeed in your career, so you need to keep it looking its best.
How to make your smile beautiful?
If you’re feeling somewhat self-conscious about your teeth, or just want to improve your smile, cosmetic dental treatments may be the answer to have a more beautiful, confident smile.
Cosmetic dentistry has become very popular in the last several years because patients are becoming more and more focused on improving their overall health by having a healthier, whiter, more radiant smile.
Teeth Whitening
Bleaching lightens teeth that have been stained or discolored by age, drink, and smoking. Teeth darkened due to injury or taking certain medications can also be bleached, but the effectiveness depends on the degree of staining present.
Composite (tooth-colored) Fillings
Composite fillings are now widely used instead of amalgam (silver) fillings to repair teeth with cavities. It is also used to repair chipped, broken, or discolored teeth. This type of filling is also very useful to fill in gaps between the teeth.
Porcelain Crowns
A crown is a tooth-colored, custom-made cap that encases the entire tooth surface restoring it to its original shape and size. It will protect and strengthen teeth that cannot be restored with fillings or other types of restorations. They are ideal for teeth that have large, fractured or broken fillings and also for those that are badly decayed.
Porcelain Veneers
Veneers are thin custom-made, tooth-colored shells bonded onto the front surface of teeth to create a beautiful individual smile. They can help by restoring or camouflage the damaged discolored, poorly shaped, or misaligned teeth. It requires minimal tooth structure to be removed from the surface of the tooth.
Dental Implants
Dental implants are artificial roots that are surgically placed into the jaw to replace one or more missing teeth. Ceramic crowns, bridges, and dentures can be made specifically to fit and attach to implants, giving patients a strong, stable, and durable solution to removable dental appliances.
Bonding
Composite resins (a mixture of plastic and glass) can be attached or “bonded” to most healthy tooth structure to repair chipped teeth.
Orthodontics
It’s not a stretch to call orthodontics, or straightening teeth, the original smile makeover tool. After all, misaligned teeth impact a smile in a highly visible way. We have newer options that make orthodontic treatment less noticeable and less intrusive than ever — with equally spectacular results!This list is extensive but by no means exhaustive. So if there’s something that’s been bothering you about the way your teeth look, let’s design — and achieve — the smile you’ve always dreamed of.
Porcelain veneers
Veneers are thin, custom-made shells of tooth-colored materials that are carefully sculpted and bonded to the surface of the front teeth to correct teeth imperfections. These are specially designed to make your teeth look natural. Veneers require a series of few painless dental visits. With proper care, these may last for up to five to ten years. With the new advances of cosmetic dentistry, everyone can have the breathtaking smile they’ve always dreamt of.
Versatility of Veneers
We can use veneers to improve any of the followingTooth Color – Yellowing and staining of the teeth is a result of aging and certain food and diet. While routine teeth whitening can improve stained teeth, other cases may call for dental veneers or dental implants. Teeth Alignment – This can be corrected through orthodontic procedures like bracesSome may also be improved with veneers. Spacing – Patients with gaps in between their teeth are candidates for dental bonding, veneers and a number of other cosmetic dentistry solutions. Missing Teeth – Patients missing one or more teeth can benefit from dental implants or bridges. Chipped, Cracked, or Uneven Teeth can be bonded with porcelain veneers for an improved appearance. A gummy smile can be re-contoured to help improve the overall look of the smile. Unshapely Face – An unshapely or aging face (e.g. sagging cheeks) can be rejuvenated through certain cosmetic dentistry procedures. Tooth Length – A smile makeover treatment for shorter teeth may include tooth reshaping with composite bonding or porcelain veneers. Tooth Proportions – A balanced smile gives the appearance of proper proportion and good oral health. A smile makeover will give you a beautifully balanced and natural looking smile.
Limitations of Porcelain Veneers There are some situations in which veneers would be inappropriate. For example, if you have significantly misaligned teeth or a large gap, we might recommend orthodontics instead of veneers. And if you have lost a lot of tooth structure from decay or trauma (or a particularly severe grinding habit), it might be better to restore your teeth with porcelain crowns that cover the entire tooth.
Creating a New Smile with Porcelain Veneers
The first step in creating a new smile with porcelain veneers is to communicate exactly what you don’t like about your smile as it is now. It’s a great idea to bring in pictures of smiles you do like, as a starting point for discussion. We can show you how veneers would look on your teeth in one of several ways. We can create a model of your teeth and put wax “veneers” on the model; we can even put acrylic (plastic) or tooth-colored filling material directly onto your teeth to demonstrate the effect veneers would have on them.Once we have agreed on a plan, we will prepare your teeth by removing a small amount of enamel, if this step is necessary. Molds of your teeth will be taken and used by a skilled dental laboratory to create your veneers, and you will receive a temporary set of veneers to wear during the few weeks it will take to create your permanent veneers. We will be in touch with the laboratory throughout the fabrication process to make sure the finished product is just what we’ve envisioned. When the veneers come back from the lab, they will be cemented onto your teeth.
Caring for Your Veneers
Just like the teeth nature gave you, teeth restored with veneers need gentle brushing and flossing every day. This will remove dental plaque and ensure good gum tissue health around the veneers.
Regular checkups at the dental office will remain as important as always to your oral and general health. And keep in mind that as tough as veneers are, they may not be able to withstand forces that come from using your teeth as tools (to open packages, for example) or biting into very hard foods like candy apples — which isn’t good for your natural teeth, either!
And if you grind or clench your teeth at night, we might advise you to get a custom-made nightguard to protect your veneers.