| |
Donna J. McNeil, photographer |
Whitening
Often the difference between a good smile and a great smile is the whiteness of the teeth. Over time most teeth lose their luster and brightness because they accumulate stains made by foods and beverages. New whitening agents can remove these stains without harming your teeth. By far the best and fastest whitening solutions are offered by your dentist. During a typical whitening procedure, your dentist will fabricate a custom tray to hold whitening gel against your teeth. You take the trays home and wear the gel-filled trays each night or for several hours during the day for several weeks. Dentists can also bleach teeth in the office. This is called power bleaching or laser bleaching. Both techniques work equally well and are offered both as a "jump start" prior to home whitening and as a separate "stand alone" procedure.
Veneers
A veneer is a thin shell of porcelain that is bonded to a tooth to improve its color and shape. A veneer generally covers only the front and top of a tooth. Veneers can be used to close spaces between teeth, lengthen small or misshapen teeth, or whiten stained or dark teeth. When teeth are chipped or beginning to wear, veneers can protect them from damage and restore their original appearance. Once in place, veneers virtually become part of the teeth. You can use them like you would your own teeth, because the bond is extremely strong. The final result is beautiful and natural looking teeth.
Porcelain Crowns
To have enough strength to withstand biting forces, porcelain crowns used to always be built upon a metal core. The dark metal inside the porcelain/metal crown causes a dark blue line to show at the edge of the crown. New breakthroughs in adhesives and stronger porcelain materials now make it possible to make crowns entirely out of porcelain, which then can be bonded to the teeth. All-porcelain crowns maintain a translucency that makes them hard to tell from natural teeth. Without metal, the problem of the dark blue line at the edge of the gums is eliminated. When you want to improve your smile, all-porcelain crowns are a beautiful and natural-looking choice!
CAD-CAM
In the past, the process of making an inlay or onlay involved a series of appointments in our office, followed by the fabrication of the restoration in a dental laboratory. Today, we have a new technology called CAD-CAM (CEREC 3-D) that allows us to custom create tooth-colored restorations, crowns and veneers right here in our office. In a single appointment, we can prepare your tooth, create the testoration, and cement it in place! The advantages of CAD-CAM include:
- extremely accurate restorations
- procedures can be completed in a single appointment
- restorations are tooth-colored and natural-looking, and they’re bonded in place.
|
|
