What is cosmetic dental care?
Cosmetic dental care focuses on changing the appearance of the teeth, bite, and gums. It can be anything from teeth whitening procedures, to improving alignment, position, size, colour, and shape of a patient's gums and teeth.
Most patients undergo cosmetic dental care with the hope that their teeth will look better once treatment is complete. While this is the ultimate goal, cosmetic dental procedures go beyond your looks.
Cosmetic dental procedures not only change the appearance of your smile, they may also enhance oral function, promote oral hygiene, and improve your oral health.
What else can cosmetic dental procedures do?
- Enhance Oral Function - While the aesthetics of our teeth are important, it's important to remember that the primary purpose of our teeth, mouth, and oral structures is to eat. A mouth with a set of strong, healthy teeth will make a great deal of difference in your eating habits. Think of an old man who has a hard time chewing. Imagine having a toothache and having to starve yourself for a week or two while you live on smoothies. If your teeth aren’t aligned, eating might be uncomfortable with all those food chunks getting stuck in between your molars. Certain cosmetic dental treatments can help address many of these issues to benefit your oral function. These include gum lifts, dental bridges, gum grafts, Invisalign, dental implants, bite reclamation, and tooth reshaping. Through these procedures, you’ll likely find that eating becomes easier.
- Promoting Oral Hygiene - Many cosmetic procedures require some degree of dental cleaning prior to the actual treatment. Oral prophylaxis removes tartar and stains accumulated by smoking, eating, and drinking. On top of this, most cosmetic dental procedures focus on restoring broken and cracked teeth. These include inlays, onlays, bonding, crowns, and veneers. Tooth repair will help protect your tooth from further damage and help prevent decay from affecting other teeth as well.
- Improves Oral Health - Cosmetic dental procedures may help improve oral health by improving your bite, repairing weak teeth, and improving overall function. This may help with preventing more serious dental problems in the future. Your oral health might also have an indirect connection to your overall health, given that food and nutrition get into your body via eating. Thus, improving oral health can alleviate some common health problems, which in turn may translate into better overall health.