Protecting Our Kids' Smiles

There are a number of dental treatments which can drastically improve the appearance of your teeth. Read on to find out what these are.

Veneers

Veneers are extremely thin caps, which are bonded to the surface of teeth. They are made from a strong material (such as porcelain) and usually have a lifespan of over ten years.

Veneers are highly effective at disguising a wide variety of dental flaws, including both extrinsic and intrinsic stains, as well as chips, cracks and uneven tooth edges.

They can make your teeth look straighter as well as more uniform (both in terms of their shape and colour). Furthermore, because there is no gap between the veneer and the real tooth on which it is placed, the tooth itself cannot decay, as no bacterial plaque can access it and erode its enamel. In this manner, veneers can also help you to maintain good oral health.

Additionally, because they are, as mentioned above, made from very robust materials, veneers are less likely than real teeth to chip or develop cracks if you sustain a blow to the face or if you routinely consume hard-textured foods.

The process of fitting veneers can take quite a while; the dentist performing this treatment will usually need to begin by scraping off some of the top layers of the teeth (to create space for the veneers), after which they will make impressions of your prepared teeth, which they will then send off to the lab that makes the veneers.

When the newly-made veneers are delivered to your dentist, they will then cement them to your teeth, using a special light and a dental fixative.

Tooth whitening treatments

A professional tooth whitening treatment can have a dramatic impact on the appearance of your teeth. This treatment can usually make a person's teeth several shades lighter and in doing so, can help to minimise the discolouration caused by intrinsic stains.

In giving the teeth a brighter, more uniform colour, this treatment also helps to make other aesthetic issues, such as gaps, chips and crookedness, considerably less noticeable.

This treatment can be completed during a single dental appointment and the results can last for up to a year (depending on whether or not you smoke, as well as how much coffee, wine and tea you consume).

It involves placing dental trays covered in a bleaching gel in the mouth and leaving them on for up to an hour (the exact length of time the dentist leaves them on will depend on how discoloured your teeth are and how white you want them to be at the end of the treatment).