What is Cosmetic Dental Treatment?

• dentistry driven by a need to enhance appearance
• meticulous dental care
• focus on fooling nature by creating a natural and pleasing appearance.
• painstaking attention to detail

  What problems can be treated
  with cosmetic procedures?

• spaces between teeth
• discolored teeth
• broken or heavily filled teeth
• dark silver fillings

Materials & Techniques:
Bonding, Ceramics and Resins

• The Bonding Concept
  This is the primary technique behind the success of many cosmetic restorations. Ceramics, resins and even metals can be "glued" to the tooth after appropriate chemical treatment. This enables us to:
  • construct restorations that will strengthen teeth
  • fabricate thin yet strong ceramic "veneers" that can modify tooth shape and color
  • place restorations that will increase tooth strength, rather than reduce it as amalgam filllings will.
    
    
• Common materials
  • ceramic: strongest non-metallic material, bonds to tooth structure for strength, best cosmetic result, some materials do not have long-term clinical history
  • resin: most common tooth colored restoration, bonding can strengthen tooth to reduce fracture potential, longevity less than ceramic or amalgam restorations
  • ceramic fused to gold: the most common type of crown. Properly fabricated, it can be virtually indistinguishable from natural teeth
    
    
• Ceramic and resin veneers for front teeth
  
  
  
• technique has been available for more than 15 years
• materials have improved dramatically.
• metal free, eliminates potential for dark appearance of gum tissue
• essentially a thin "cover" on the lip side of a tooth
• can modify tooth shape, size, spacing, color
• ceramic more natural looking, longer lasting,stronger than resin.
• Crowns for front teeth
  
  Veneers are not able to effectively restore a tooth that is severly damaged from trauma or decay. A crown, constructed from ceramic, or ceramic fused to a gold understructure, is usually required.
  
  While either type of crown can be made highly natural, with no "black line" at the gum, the translucency of all ceramic crowns makes it the treatment of choice.
  
  
• Crowns, ceramic and resin fillings for back teeth
  
  There has been a dramatic improvement in tooth colored materials for restoring back teeth. In many offices the use of silver amalgam has been virtually eliminated. All of these restorations are "bonded" to the tooth.
  
  You may be confused with all the terms you will hear.
  Highly cosmetic restorations for back teeth will include the following techniques:
• ceramic and resin inlays
  goes in the tooth, similar to a filling but strengthens somewhat
• ceramic and resin onlays
  goes over the tooth, adds significant strength
• ceramic crowns
  (goes over the tooth, adds significant strength
• ceramic fused to gold crowns
  goes over the tooth, adds significant strength
  

As a general rule, onlays or crowns are fabricated to stringthen weak teeth or rebuild severly damaged teeth. Other teeth need just a "simple filling" that can be done with either silver amalgam, resin, or ceramic . Your dentist should be able to clarify these issues for you.

• Bleaching
  
  • most effective for brown or yellow teeth
    (this is the most common color problem!)
  • least effective in for "grey" looking teeth
  • treatment performed at home