Planning Your Festive Smile Makeover

Whether you want to boost your smile in time for Christmas or are planning further ahead, we can help.

The New Year tends to bring out the optimist in many of us and the idea that we will suddenly become fit enough to run a marathon or lose enough weight to fit into the slimmest of clothes, seems eminently possible at this time of the year.

As those of us of a certain age know though, many of these aims are left unfulfilled due to lack of time or determination. There are other resolutions though, that can be achieved and these are often best done with the aid of a professional to help us along the way. One case in point is the desire to have a more attractive smile.

Your pre Christmas boost

Although it is cutting it a little fine, it is still possible to give your smile a real boost before the Christmas festivities begin. The most effective way to make this change in such a short time is to have your teeth whitened. Because this does involve the production of trays which fit over the teeth, you will need to act quickly. With a quick appointment, the production of the trays and a treatment time of around two weeks, your treatment may just be complete in time for Christmas day. Even if it is not, as long as you act quickly, you will be well on your way and should still see a significant improvement in the colour of your teeth by the 25th.

For those who do leave it too late to have this procedure, all is not lost. Although less effective than a whitening procedure, a scale and polish, performed by the hygienist at our Bedford practice, may also brighten your teeth a little, removing some surface staining. It will also help in making sure that your overall oral health is in a good condition before festivities begin.

Longer term improvements

In the event that you simply don’t have time to organise teeth whitening procedure before Christmas, you might wish instead, to look to the longer term, taking your time to get the results just right. The best way to do this is to arrange to have an initial consultation with one of our cosmetic dental team at The Dental Centre Bedford. During this consultation we will discuss with you, your hopes and aims, as well as practicalities such as budget and payment plans. We will also need to ensure that your mouth is healthy before any work starts. There is little point in having beautiful looking teeth if they will soon need to be filled or extracted because of tooth decay!

Your personalised smile makeover may consist of a single treatment, or, where required, a combination. This will vary from person to person.

The first step

Providing that your teeth are in good health and are not too heavily stained, it may well be that a teeth whitening procedure is all that you will need. This is a straightforward and non invasive treatment that is carried out in your home, with guidance from a dentist. The trays that the bleach is put into are made from impressions of your teeth so that they are comfortable and reduce the risk of bleach coming into contact with your gums and lips.

This is an affordable treatment with results that last for several months. You can repeat this treatment as often as you wish, and we are always happy to offer our professional advice, should you have any concerns or questions.

More extensive treatment

Whilst a teeth whitening procedure offers significant improvements for most patients, there may be situations where the results may not be as effective as hoped. This would generally apply to those patients whose teeth are more badly stained. An obvious example of this would be someone who had been a heavy smoker for a number of years and whose teeth had turned yellow due to the tar in the cigarettes. In situations such as this, dental veneers may offer a more realistic approach.

Veneers are very fine layers of porcelain that are used to replace an equivalent thickness from the front of the affected teeth. As porcelain is not easily stained, they will retain their whiteness for a long time and should last in the region of ten years. This is a more complex procedure than a straightforward teeth whitening, but does offer a realistic way of having nicer looking teeth where more significant discolouration or damage is present.

It is worth mentioning that at most dental practices, the veneers are produced at an external laboratory, necessitating the need for temporary veneers to be fitted whilst they are being produced. This is not the case at The Dental Centre Bedford, and the use of in-house CEREC technology means that your veneers can be produced whilst you wait. This takes just a few hours, enabling you to have your veneers fitted in just one visit.

These are just two of the main procedures that are used during a smile makeover but there are others which we will discuss in detail in the future.

If you would like to do something to enhance the colour of your teeth, why not take the first step and book an initial consultation at our Bedford dental clinic by calling us on 01234 819868.