Freshen Up Your Smile Ready For Spring!

How our cosmetic dentists can help rejuvenate your smile.

The seasons seem to be teasing us all at the moment. After weeks of rain, the sun finally appears for a while then hides again. All being well though, this is surely just a short delay until the warmer and sunnier weather finally arrives and we can spend more time outdoors, socialising with others.

This is also a popular time of the year for some of our Bedford patients to take stock of their smile and see if there is anything that can be done to improve it. In most cases, there are various opportunities for those that want healthier, whiter teeth and straighter, more appealing smiles. In today’s blog, we’ll review the main treatment options that can help.

Teeth whitening

The most obvious and popular place for people to start is with a teeth whitening procedure. Before this happens though, we will need to examine your teeth to ensure that they are healthy as there is no point whitening a tooth that is in poor health. Once it has been established they are healthy or have been treated, we can commence.

To do this, impressions are taken of your teeth so that the trays which hold the whitening gel can be made to your own specification. Once these have been produced, we will show you how to use them and discuss the level of whiteness that you would like. Not everyone opts to have the whitest brightness possible and we can adjust this to your own requirement if you want a more subtle improvement. The trays are worn for a short while each day for approximately two weeks to reveal a whiter smile than you perhaps thought was possible.

Veneers

While the above treatment is the most popular cosmetic procedure that we carry out at The Dental Centre Bedford, it is not ideal for everyone. Patients with significant teeth staining or discolouration may find that the whitening procedure only brings limited results. Where staining is too severe, porcelain veneers are likely to offer a more successful solution.

This procedure does require some invasive treatment and this will be done using a local anaesthetic. In order to fit the veneers and leave a natural appearance, we ‘shave’ away a fine layer of the stained enamel from the front of your teeth. We then take impressions from which the veneers will be made. Once these have been manufactured using our in-house, time-saving CEREC technology, we fit them at the same appointment. Your new veneers are then trimmed and polished to give your smile a natural and beautiful appearance.

Cosmetic bonding

Sometimes, there is little wrong with the colour of a tooth, but there may be signs of minor damage such as a small chip. This needn’t affect the health of the tooth but can spoil its appearance. While veneers can restore teeth affected in this way, a more straightforward option is for us to apply cosmetic bonding to the tooth, shaping it so that the tooth looks natural again. This is a non-invasive treatment that works well in many cases. We will need to check the tooth first though as, in some cases, it may be a better option to go straight to veneers instead.

White fillings

Anyone who has amalgam fillings will know that they are very visible when you smile or laugh, or even yawn in the case of rear teeth. At one time, this was the only option other than the very expensive, and also very visible, gold fillings. Modern tooth coloured fillings are now available which provide a strong way to fill a cavity as well as being much less visible. They also bond very well to the natural tooth meaning less shrinkage and hence less chance of additional decay when compared to traditional amalgam types.

Scale and polish

One procedure which isn’t classed as a cosmetic one but can have benefits is a ‘scale and polish’. This is carried out by our dental hygienist and is primarily used to maintain healthy gums. By removing the tartar which can contribute to gum disease, this also helps removes surface staining and can improve the whiteness of your teeth. While this won’t work for all types of staining, it is certainly a good place to start although you should have this carried out every six months anyway, to help keep your gums in good health.

We hope that our blog has given you some ideas of how we can help you have a more attractive smile for spring and summer. If you would like to talk to us about it or to arrange an initial consultation, please call The Dental Centre Bedford today on 01234 819868.