Front Teeth Crowns - In Your Local Area

How Do I Care For My Perfect Teeth After Visiting a Cosmetic Dentist?

Have you had esthetic enhancements to your teeth or just naturally have great looking, perfect teeth? Here are some tips to maintain your picture perfect smile.

In order to maintain a healthy smile, you have to know what types of things are damaging to the teeth. Identifying and eliminating bad oral habits is the key to retaining a great smile for many years. Sometimes we are not aware that we are harming the health of our teeth. Do you:

• Grind your teeth?
• Casually bite your fingernails or a pen?
• Crunch ice?
• Have a diet high in sugar (such as soda, chewing gum and candy)?
• Drink coffee, red wine and tea? Smoke or chew tobacco?
• Force your tongue against your upper teeth?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are in danger of causing a detrimental effect on your new smile.

How Detrimental Are the Effects?

No one can predict the exact effects that the habit will have on your newly perfect teeth, however, the longer the duration of the habit, the greater negative effect it will have on the longevity of your smile enhancements.

How Can I Eliminate My Bad Oral Habits and Protect My Perfect Teeth?

The first step to eliminating a bad habit is to identify and acknowledge that you have one. If your habit is crunching ice, you must alter or eliminate it from your day-to-day routine.

Other habits are harder to break like grinding your teeth. Grinding the teeth is generally an involuntary action and usually occurs when asleep. Because the habit is difficult to break, a plastic night guard is the best solution to prevent excessive wear of your teeth.

A night guard is a clear plastic mouthpiece that is custom-fitted to snap over your teeth, much like an athletic mouth guard. The night guard is designed so your teeth grind on the plastic, not your teeth. The night guard will wear out, but your teeth will not.

Do not neglect your teeth, especially if you have had esthetic enhancements. Your enhancements will not last forever, so in order to preserve your perfect teeth, visit your dentist regularly and do your best to eliminate bad oral habits.

By Benjamin O. Watkins, III, DDS

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.

A Beautiful Smile and Your Cosmetic Dentist

Everyone knows Mona Lisa's smile, but who knows what she meant by it?

Why do we smile?

Psychologists tell us that, in our ancient past, a smile was a gesture of appeasement. They also believe that, to modern man, a smile signals many different messages - recognition, sympathy, apology, lessening of tension, confusion, embarrassment, doubt, joy, delight. A smile, social observers agree, is a mask behind which we can hide our true feelings.

This mask is a complex gesture. First the corners of the lips curl upward. Then, as the smile grows, front teeth are exposed. In our culture we consider people with glistening white teeth and a beautiful smile to be "good" people. Bad teeth, on the other hand, tend to distort the smile "message" because, curiously, we subconsciously judge others by their teeth.

The Eyes Don't Have It - The Teeth Do!

Some people believe that teeth are a more important element of beauty than the eyes.

Have you noticed that, in the movies and on TV, the "good guys" never have broken teeth or a missing tooth? The "bad guys" almost always do.

What Does Cosmetic Dentistry Have to Do With Facial Beauty? Everything!

Nearly all dentistry affects our appearance, and our appearance affects our sense of personal worth. Among the many things that a cosmetic dentist can do to give you a beautiful smile are:

• Teeth bleaching to remove stains caused by plaque, coffee, cigarettes
• Teeth Whitening
• Covering worn teeth (ground down by age or deformity or chipping) through application of dental crowns, dental bridges, or other cosmetic dental techniques
• Teeth Straightening (orthodontics) for adults as well as children, to improve appearance and to provide better chewing surfaces
• Shortening a long face, realigning a protruding jaw, correcting a cleft lip through dental surgery

So … cosmetic dentists are scientists, clinicians, artists and image-makers!

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.