Cosmetic Dentistry Articles & Stories

With our “image is everything” Western culture in high gear and going full throttle, it’s hardly surprising that millions of Americans and Europeans crave a perfect smile, with perfect teeth, and that cosmetic dentistry is the source to which they turn.
   
Most commonly, cosmetic dentistry involves removing some of the incredibly hard and perfectly healthy enamel, and then some tooth tissue, and cementing veneers to the teeth. There are two chief types of material used for veneers, composite and porcelain. A composite veneer may be placed directly on the tooth, or it may be indirectly manufactured by a dental technician in a laboratory, and later cemented to the tooth. A porcelain veneer may only be indirectly manufactured.

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Pain and root canals, public embarrassment, the loss of thousands of dollars – these can all result from poor case selection and operator technique with porcelain veneers.

Everyone hears about how movie stars and athletes get great smiles with veneers but there is not much talk about the potential downsides.  I’m a dentist.  I’ve seen it all.  I’m here to give you the inside scoop.

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Scientists recently found the gene that governs the growth of the body’s enamel-secreting cells, a major development that may pave the way for the mending of damaged enamel, new approaches to cavity prevention, and the production of replacement teeth.
   
The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, discovered that the “transcription factor” gene, called Ctip2, plays the enamel-secretion role in addition to other roles that were already known. (Ctip2 is also involved in immune response, and the development of skin and the nervous system.)

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According to a recent research there has been a gene identified that makes our bodies grow enamel. This discovery now lets us see a clearer picture of how teeth form and could create new opportunities in dental treatments. 

Researchers and scientists have been looking for ways to strengthen or replace enamel for a long time. Currently, there are products in the form of pastes that try to repair enamel. These products proclaim to effectively promote the re-calcification of decalcified enamel to thereby positively suppress any dental caries. With these recent genetic discoveries it now seems possible that we may be able to completely replace enamel instead of just repairing it.

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Gone are the days (or soon will be) when dentists had to ladle quantities of goo into patients' mouths to take impressions for the construction of crowns, bridges and implants. Instead, exciting new high technology has been developed that will do a two-minute digital scan of a patient's entire set of teeth. Once the information is captured by an electronic wand the dentist passes around the teeth, it's delivered to a dental lab where milling machines hooked up to CNC (computer numerical control) devices are used to craft the artificial dentition, most of which is now made from zirconium dioxide. In the past, gold and platinum had been the materials of choice.

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General recommendations for heart health are: get about 40 minutes of exercise at least 3 times a week, cut dietary fat and salt intake, pay attention to your blood pressure and cholesterol. But can taking care of your gums help your heart? It turns out, that treating periodontal disease reduces plaque build up in the coronary arteries and makes the vessels more flexible.

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A new review suggests dentists need to spend more time, using psychology to convince people to do a better job at improving their oral health. The fact is, tooth brushing and flossing remain the keys to oral health. They are the most important steps in helping to keep a person's teeth for a lifetime. Still, brushing and flossing are not as popular as dentists would like.

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A lot of people want to have a brighter smile. But laser treatments can be incredibly expensive. Now, there is a non-laser treatment system that whitens teeth really quickly--in one session--and it will not cost you an arm and a leg. "I work in the wine industry I drink a lot of wine, red wine especially and coffee and over time my teeth get darker." Says Beata Parzych, who has decided she needs to make her smile to be a bit brighter.

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So you want to flash those pearly whites?

Sure you can get yourself lasered, you can go to your dentist to get bleached, but what about the low tech method: toothpaste.

Dr. Marc Liechtung, a cosmetic dentist and owner of this laser whitening center, says they do have a role. “These products have become an adjunct to in office bleaching. So we tell our patients to go out after bleaching, and get whitening toothpaste.”

In whitening toothpastes, there are two general categories of whiteners—abrasives--the most common one is silica, and anti-tartar agents.

Unlike bleaching agents like hydrogen peroxide, which get into the tooth, these superficial whiteners clean surface stains--mostly along the gum line and in between teeth.

They get to stains from things like coffee and smoking.

“People want to get like 7-8 shades lighter they’re not going to do it with just toothpaste,”says Dr. Liechtung.

But Dr. Robert Gerlach, who leads the studies on whitening at crest, says the right whitening toothpaste can make a huge difference. “The before and after images are remarkable; the patient clearly looks remarkably better. But we haven’t affected the underlying tooth color. To do that we have to diffuse peroxide in. So if you don’t have stain on your teeth, we can’t remove that stain.”

Dr. Gerlach says there are innumerable studies to back up the whitening claims. And to add to that, four crest and three Colgate pastes have the ADA seal of approval for whitening.

Dr. Clifford Whall, Director of the ADA Acceptance Program, says, “Our guidelines set specific levels of whiteness that they have to achieve in order to receive our seal.”

That’s not to say other toothpastes with whitening on the label but without the seal don’t whiten…in fact, if they contain silica, for example, they probably do.

“The second thing the whitening toothpaste do, however, is they prevent daily stain accumulation,” states Dr. Gerlach.

The ADA seal adds a layer of guarantee that there is clinical data to back up the claim. ( Read more about Whitening ToothPaste)

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Do you have stinky breath? Not a socially acceptable question, but then again, if you have it, you'd certainly want to know and get rid of it. But how do you do that…and prevent it even? The latest research shows a lot of what's out there for the problem doesn’t work. Now, the fact is there are lots of reasons for bad breath…from sinus problems, to not eating, to eating and not brushing the teeth.

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