Emergency Dental Care

Your Dental Makeover: Discover How Plastic Surgery Relates To Cosmetic Dentistry

Cosmetic dentistry and plastic surgery both blend health care with artistry and beautification. However, before we can beautify a person's smile, we must have a complete understanding of your dental makeover, not just an appreciation of, beauty.

Some of the first people to understand beauty were not health care specialists, but rather, artists. Great painters and sculptors studied anatomy, perspective, illusion, proportion, idealism and symmetry in order to recreate the beauty they saw.

Esthetic surgeons and cosmetic dentists create better-looking smiles. A cosmetic dentist creates pleasing-looking teeth, while the surgeon helps you feel more like smiling.

If cosmetic dentists and esthetic surgeons want to create beautiful smiles, they must begin to think like the great dental makeover artists. Michelangelo would never have considered one of his masterpieces complete until it was framed properly. The same goes for cosmetic dentistry. If we think of the teeth as the masterpiece, the frame is the surrounding soft tissue (such as the gums, jawbones, facial muscles, lips, and skin). We cannot consider one without the other.

Let's look at the areas of the face that contribute to the smile.

The Lips Form the Smile

The support of the lips is very important. If the teeth are properly contoured and there is a normal bite, the lip support is nearly always adequate. When it is inadequate, it is correctable.

Aside from the teeth, the chin also plays a role in the shape of the lips. A weak chin can give lips a protruded appearance. The solution is to increase the fullness of the chin through cosmetic plastic surgery.

The Mouth Is the Center of the Smile

The next area of cosmetic dentistry focus in your dental makeover is the shape of the mouth. The lips and the teeth are of primary importance to the support of the lips; however, the facial muscles of expression are what control the smile.

When the corners of the mouth are either turned up or down, they convey the feeling of happiness or sadness. Soft tissue corrections around the mouth should be corrected after the teeth and jawbones are corrected.

Other facial features that can be surgically altered to contribute to a terrific smile are:

• The nose may shadow the smile; The nose helps to proportion the smile in how it relates to the mouth and cheeks.
• The chin aids in determining facial balance; A prominent or deficient chin can affect facial symmetry.
• The jaws help shape the face and smile; A deficient upper or lower jaw can divert attention away from the smile and lay focus on the deficiency.
• The cheeks lift the corner of the smile; Sagging facial tissue that hides nicely-shaped lips, cheeks, and jawbones can be "lifted" to once again feature a pleasing smile.
• The brows and lids usually contribute greatly to the smile; thick upper eyelids that make people look tired or sad can be thinned.
• The skin may be wrinkled by smiling or frowning; Small facial muscles placing tension on the skin sometimes cause fine aging lines. They can be corrected through chemical peels, Botox injections, dermabrasion or a combination of these along with a facelift.

For further information on your dental makeover, consult with a cosmetic dentist, dermatologist or plastic surgeon. Each of these specialists works in close relationship with each other and can further counsel you on the best cosmetic dentistry treatment to improve your smile.

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.

Dental Crowns And The Dreaded Black Line: A Dead Giveaway That It's A Fake

We have all seen smiles that you know have dental crowns in the front. You look at them and say to yourself that something is not natural. Many times, it is the dark rim of gum tissue that gives it away. The dark rim of gum tissue does not occur around natural teeth, only around teeth that have been covered with dental crowns.

What Causes the Dark Line on My Gums?

The dark line is associated with an old porcelain dental crown. This style of dental crown is referred to as porcelain fused-to-metal dental crowns because it uses tooth-colored porcelain on the outside and it uses metal under the porcelain for strength. The dark line originates from the edge of the dental crowns where the porcelain and the metal meet at a knife-edge at the gum line. At the knife-edge, a very thin amount of the metal always shows. One of the illusionary techniques cosmetic dentists have used was to hide the thin dark line under the gum line. Over time, the gum tissue would recede and expose the dark line. In some patients the dark line would show through the gum and make it appear dark as well.

How Do You Get Rid of It?

The only way to eliminate the esthetic problem is to replace the dental crowns. When replacing just one single dental crown in the front, you should expect that it might take more than one try-in of the new dental crown before it is permanently cemented into place. Because your central incisors are the most prominent teeth in the mouth, matching them is the most difficult esthetic challenge. Only the best dental technicians are able to mimic one central incisor tooth next to another.

What Are Some of the Replacement Dental Crowns Like?

Some of the clever ways dentists and dental technicians have been able to mimic natural teeth is through the new advancements in dental materials. New all-tooth-colored ceramic dental crowns are the latest technological advancement cosmetic dentists have to recreate natural teeth. In comparison to porcelain fused-to-metal dental crowns, all-ceramic dental crowns do not contain any metal, thus no dark line can appear.

Some advantages and disadvantages of all-ceramic dental crowns are as follows:

Advantages of All-Ceramic Dental Crowns

• High esthetics
• Excellent fit
• If gum recession occurs, there is no dark line

Disadvantages of All-Ceramic Dental Crowns

< li>Not as strong as porcelain-fused-to-metal dental crowns
• Cannot be used in all areas of the mouth

Dental crowns often need to be replaced after several years of service for esthetic or functional reasons. With the growing esthetic awareness of patients and the available ceramic technology, this type of re-treatment is becoming more common in the dental office.

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.