Porcelain Crowns

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.

Tooth Restoration Options

Have you ever smiled in the mirror and wondered what if?

What if your teeth were less prominent, or just a bit more even, or maybe that missing tooth was back in place?

Below you'll find the "What's In A Smile" quiz. It helps you play "What if" and then focus on what the mirror tells you.

Cosmetic dentistry isn't "just for movie stars" or "just for women." Typically it's very conservative treatment that returns huge dividends in personal self-confidence.

Today there are new tooth restoration materials and cosmetic dental care techniques that can put a beautiful smile within everyone's reach. For example, porcelain onlays and inlays can return structural integrity to damaged teeth, while leaving them looking as natural as the ones you were born with.

For teeth that are intact but seem to lack youthful sparkle, there are a variety of procedures that are simple, safe, and effective. You may want to inquire about teeth bleaching treatments, dental implants, or dental veneers that enhance your tooth enamel. Even a hygiene appointment can return light and color to your smile.

Many patients, whose appearance and self-esteem have been boosted enormously, have received only the simplest of cosmetic dentistry enhancements. Their only regret was that they'd waited so long to have them done.

Your cosmetic dentist will be happy to answer your questions. Please call to schedule a consultation.

+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.