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| Have You Ever Wished You Had a Movie Star Smile? |
| By Mal Braverman, D.M.D. New York, NY |
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Actors and models have long recognized the value of a winning smile. As teeth yellow and wear with age and stain with coffee, tea, cigarettes and many foods, celebrities and the general public alike have sought to regain their “winning smiles” through cosmetic dentistry.
You may have noticed some of your friends with whiter and brighter smiles. Tooth whitening has become even more popular in recent years as a simple cosmetic improvement. Discolored teeth may be whitened at home in just a few weeks. Stains are removed from the enamel of your teeth by wearing a custom-fitted tray over your teeth. An oxidizing gel placed in the tray bleaches out stains like a deep cleaning. The trays are worn for thirty minutes twice a day; immediately they begin to whiten.
I’m often asked about the safety of this process, which is best explained by its genesis. It was developed by a periodontist who recommended glyoxide, an over the counter oxidizing gel, to patients prior to gum surgery. The oxidizing gel kills bacteria encouraging soft tissue health. For more efficacious treatment, he fabricated a custom-fitted tray, which brought the gel into more intimate contact with the teeth and gums and proved more advantageous than simple brushing. The result was that patients returned with whiter teeth and tooth whitening was discovered.
The difference between laser and power bleaching, both in-office procedures, is mainly that they remove the stain more quickly than home bleaching. The power bleach is stronger and requires in office supervision and the laser method is used to activate the gel, which further speeds up the process. However, the end result is the same making the at-home method of bleaching the most cost effective.
Some stains caused by the use of tetracycline for various childhood diseases, is resistant to external bleaching and is more suitably treated with porcelain laminate veneers.
Porcelain laminate veneers are the ultimate in “smile makeover.” If you have spaced, crooked, chipped, worn or discolored teeth or you are unhappy with your smile, you may be interested in porcelain laminate veneers, a perfect smile in two visits. An impression of your teeth is taken at the first visit; porcelain covers are made for your front teeth correcting all imperfections and bonded at the second visit.
In one week you can have a perfect smile. Porcelain veneers are a beautiful and simple way to solve the problems of spaced, crooked or chipped teeth and can even lengthen teeth, which are too short or have worn with age. They resist wear, stain and discoloration better than bonding and are less expensive and more conservative than capping. Usually there is very little drilling and it may be done without needles. A properly shaped, fitted and bonded porcelain crown or veneer is the most aesthetic method of restoring the health, strength and appearance of fractured and worn teeth as well as teeth weakened by root canal therapy.
Bleaching, bonding, tooth colored fillings, reshaping of teeth and minor tooth movement with removable invisible appliances complete the armamentarium of the cosmetic dentist.
These tools make it possible to provide you with the smile of your dreams. Think of Julia Roberts and you imagine her smiling. What has that smile done for her life and her career? If a movie star’s smile is one of your dreams, it can become a reality with modern cosmetic dentistry.
- Mal Braverman, D.M.D
Dr. Braverman resides in Sag Harbor and Manhattan and maintains a cosmetic dentistry practice at 30 Central Park South, New York City. He is the Past President of the New York Chapter of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and Talk-show host of “Smile Studio” on WEVD 1050 AM-News Talk Radio. You may visit his website at www.smilestudio.ebody.com for more information on these procedures or call 212-688-3838.
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