Gentle Dental

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 dentistry tips to maintain your picture perfect smile.

n 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 perfect teeth and 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, have regular dental check-ups 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.

Get a Bright Smile with a Smile Makeover

Are you completely happy with your smile? Or do you find yourself dreaming...what if?

What if those front teeth were less prominent, or maybe a bit more even? Or if that missing tooth could be replaced? Or those broken teeth were no longer chipped and/or stained?

These days, restorative dentistry isn't limited to "movie stars" or "young women" and, it can be very conservative. But a smile makeover can pay huge dividends in terms of self-esteem. Many people have experienced thrilling improvements in their appearance from some of the simplest cosmetic dental implants. The one regret? They hadn't done it years earlier!

21st Century materials (onlays, inlays and veneers) and procedures (cosmetic laser dentistry) exist now that can put a bright smile within everyone's reach. Not only that, new restorative dentistry techniques continue to advance-rapidly! Make sure your cosmetic dental care team keeps up with these techniques by reading clinical journals and participating in Continuing Education courses. Also, be sure to ask your cosmetic dentist about new discoveries so that you can stay informed as well.

+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.