How To Get A Better Smile this Year and Beyond

When it comes to spreading positivity and connection, nothing beats a person who’s generous at extending a heart-warming smile. Giving your best smile to everyone is one of the greatest tools you can have in your arsenal of social skills, even in this day and age.

You’re lucky if you’re born with an enviable set of teeth, as it can help you gain confidence and get you to smile better. Unfortunately, not every person was with Julia Roberts’s signature smile. With the help of cosmetic dentistry, though, you can have a more gorgeous grin in 2021.

Tips to Get a Better Smile this Year and Beyond

Maintain Proper Oral Health:

Whether you’re born with a perfect set of teeth or not, always make sure to prioritize dental health. Brush your teeth properly after every meal or at least twice daily. Spend enough time moving your toothbrush up and down, as well as in circular motions, to keep your mouth healthy.

In addition, use dental floss to remove all food particles trapped between your teeth and prevent plaque and cavities from forming.

Visit Your Dentist Regularly:

Twice a year, make it a point to meet with your dentist, who can spot oral problems early on. Dentists are responsible for helping you keep your mouth healthy and prevent oral problems from occurring. Dental cleaning keeps oral problems at bay, making your smile look better.

Go To A Cosmetic Dentist:

Cosmetic dentists make it possible to have your smile look even better. They’re responsible for treating the following common oral health problems, which lead to a lackluster smile:

Discolored teeth
Stained teeth
Crooked and misaligned teeth
Deformed teeth
Visible cavities and plaque
Gaps in teeth
Missing tooth

Aesthetic dentists, as these dental professionals are also known, are trained to perform diverse cosmetic dentistry methods to help you achieve a brighter smile.

Have Your Teeth Whitened:

The American Association of Cosmetic Dentistry found in its survey that persons want to have whiter, brighter, and straighter teeth in order to improve the way they smile.

Indeed, your pearly whites can suffer from discoloration and stains due to old age, certain medicines, and food consumption.

Old age: When a person matures, the outer enamel layer degenerates, leading the yellow portion known as dentin to get exposed. Additionally, your tooth dentin grows with age, as your pearly whites’ transparency reduces, making your teeth appear darker.
Antibiotics: bacteria-fighting medications with doxycycline and tetracycline are known to cause teeth discoloration. In fact, pregnant mothers are advised against taking tetracycline-laden drugs to prevent them from negatively impacting their babies’ teeth.
Antihistamines: Regularly taking these anti-allergy medications can cause your teeth to stain.
Medications for hypertension and depression: These medicines often affect saliva production and limit the moisture in your mouth. A dry mouth can increase your risk of teeth discoloration and other dental problems.
Teeth-staining foods and beverages: Pasta, potatoes, wine, soda, tea, and coffee are among the common foods and beverages that can cause discoloration and staining.

Oral problems triggered by these conditions can be treated by teeth whitening or bleaching. Depending on your condition, the dentist may perform the procedure in the clinic or ask you to do it in the comfort of your home.

An at-home teeth bleaching process involves the use of a solution and a mouthpiece tray. Between the two, in-clinic whitening works faster, with results showing as early as the first visit. When bleaching your teeth at home, you may need to wait for at least two weeks before you start to see a brighter smile.

Wear Orthodontic Braces

While often seen in teens or older children, it doesn’t mean that adults can’t wear braces. These dental devices work to align moderately or severely crooked teeth, as well as resolve gaps, spaces, and even crowding between your teeth. More than its aesthetic use, braces are primarily used to reposition the teeth and address major oral issues such as an overbite, irregular bite, jaw misalignment, and other jaw problems.

For decades, people often shied away from metal braces because it’s highly visible. With technology, however, metal braces are joined by other options such as brackets made from ceramic and plastic. For crooked and crowded teeth, these types of transparent aligners can be good alternatives for protruding and highly visible metal, orthodontic braces.

Teeth Bonding

If you have gaps and spaces between your teeth, or if any of them are chipped, deformed, cracked, and stained, bonding may be the answer to your dental problems.

This cosmetic dentistry procedure involves the dentist using bonding materials and attaching them to your mouth to fill the gaps and spaces and protect your teeth. Porcelain and composite resins are often applied to the patient’s enamel and dentin to connect them and create a better-looking set of pearlies. Unfortunately, this doesn’t last a lifetime, and you may have to ask your dentist to redo it after a few years.

Wear Veneers

These thin shells made from porcelain and plastic are manufactured to look like your teeth, but better. Veneers are used to cover the front side of one’s teeth to significantly improve their color and shape.

Veneers are perfect for persons who have teeth with spaces and gaps, and those with chipped and badly shaped teeth, as well as slightly crooked teeth.

The dentist will have to make an impression of your tooth and buff it to prepare for the veneer. Dental cement is then applied before inserting the veneers in place.

Reshaped Enamel

Improving your enamel, also called odontoblasts and enameloplasty, involves removing or contouring your dental enamel. This procedure aims to make your smile look more balanced. Unlike other aesthetic dental procedures, enamel shaping and re-contouring is a painless method with instant results.

They’re best for individuals with crooked, chipped teeth, as well as those with slight bite issues, including those with slightly elongated canine teeth. This is not for everybody, though. In fact, your dentist would need to have an image of your teeth to determine whether you’re an ideal candidate. An enamel that’s re-shaped too thinly can cause oversensitivity to temperatures.

Get Bridges And Implants

Fixed dentures and implants are artificial teeth used to replace a missing tooth. Bridges are made from porcelain, alloy, and gold for better durability. Implants, on the other hand, are surgically inserted in the gap where your missing tooth is located.

Between the two, implants are more expensive and secure, often made from titanium metal that attaches to the jawbone.

Final Thoughts

Getting a brighter smile requires a straighter and whiter set of teeth. While home care techniques are essential, improving the quality of your smile may require procedures performed by your cosmetic dentist. You can’t achieve a perfect smile without the help of these dental professionals.