Summer may be over and the nights are steadily drawing in, but rejuvenating your smile can be an easy way to boost your spirits and there are lots of different things you can do. In fact now can be a good time to plan ahead to make sure your smile sparkles during Christmas and New Year parties and celebrations.
Get started with a Check-up
The best way to start is simply by booking a checkup with your dentist to find out how they can help you. They are likely to have some straightforward suggestions on how you can improve your smile and it can be useful to think about how you’d like to improve the appearance of your teeth and how much you wish to spend. From there your dentist will be able to devise a treatment plan that fits in with your needs and desires. So which treatments might help?
Getting Rid of Old and Stained Fillings
This can be a very easy fix and at the same time it could help protect your teeth. Old and stained fillings, particularly older style silver coloured amalgams can begin to crumble and leak after a few years. When this occurs, decay causing bacteria can get underneath the restoration and in the worst case the decay may reach the pulp, causing a painful infection. Making sure you replace fillings as necessary is a great way to protect your teeth. These days there are a number of different tooth coloured restorations that can be used to repair cavities and which are much more attractive and nearly invisible.
Consider a Cosmetic Brace
Orthodontic treatment needn’t necessarily take months or years to complete as some of the newer cosmetic braces can produce results within just a few weeks or months. These include Invisalign i7, a system that uses up to seven aligners to reposition your front teeth. Each set of aligners is worn for just two weeks, so as you can see treatment will be very quick. This type of brace is ideal for correcting minor problems with tooth alignment and it works very well in conjunction with other treatments.
Veneers
Veneers can be great for covering up one or more teeth that are discoloured or chipped, or a less than perfect shape. They can also be used to correct teeth that are slightly out of alignment or to close up or minimise spaces in between them, but your dentist might suggest using cosmetic braces for this purpose. Veneers also work well with teeth whitening.
Teeth Whitening
Your dentist can provide professional teeth whitening kits to use in the comfort of your home and which will produce excellent and very safe results, minimising the risk of tooth sensitivity. A check-up will determine if your teeth are healthy enough for whitening as you cannot have any untreated dental problems before you whiten.
Replacing Missing Teeth
If you are missing teeth then there are a number of options, but one of the most permanent is to choose dental implants. These are often regarded as being the gold standard for tooth replacement due to the excellent results that can be achieved and the potential for longevity of treatment.
Yours in oral health,
