• smile makeover

SMILE MAKEOVER

A perfect smile is very important. It is believed to improve one's self-confidence and an essential social asset. A smile makeover can straighten the teeth, repair missing teeth or broken crown, give whiter teeth, and so much more to help you get that outstanding smile.

A smile makeover in London is an option for anyone who desires to improve their appearance, smile quality, oral health and self-esteem using any of the available dentistry procedures.  These dental procedures include the use of the following

  • Tooth implants
  • Teeth whitening
  • Dental veneers
  • Composite bonding

If you need a smile-makeover or you crave a better smile, then Cosmetic Dentistry Clinic should be your next dental stop. Do give us a call today and watch your smile take a new turn.

Components To Be Taken Into Consideration For Smile Makeovers

Smile makeovers are done for different reasons and are tailor-made to fit each person’s need. There are a few things your cosmetic dentist in London will put into consideration before you can get a smile makeover. They include:

  • Skin tone
  • Facial appearance
  • Hair colour
  • Gum tissue
  • Lips
  • Teeth colour, shape, length, width, and display

OTHER FACTORS TO CONSIDER

Your dentist will also review the following aspects of your smile to ensure they can be improved.

Teeth Alignment And Spacing

It is possible to straighten and align crooked, overlapping or gapped tooth when necessary using Invisalign or any orthodontic treatment like veneers.

Harmony And Balance

Cosmetic bonding can be carried out on cracked, uneven, and cracked teeth to improve appearance. Re-contouring a smile can also be done to improve the general appearance, balance, and harmony of a smile.

Missing Teeth

Missing one or more teeth adversely affects your bite, increases your chances of tooth decay, and gives an imperfect smile. This condition makes teeth replacement an important aspect of oral health. Teeth can be replaced with dental implants, partial dentures or bridges.

Tooth colour

The colour of the teeth is an important factor to review before a smile makeover. It is necessary to know the colour of the teeth for preparation of porcelain veneers, dental bridges, composite bonding, crowns and implants. Natural and tooth-coloured composite materials can be used to replace dental fillings, or teeth whitening can be done on stained or dulled teeth.

The concern of every cosmetic dentist is to find a balance between giving you brighter and whiter teeth and maintaining a colour that suits your natural facial, hair, and tooth colour. Most times, discolouration of the teeth is associated with an aged mouth while brighter teeth are because a person is younger.

Fuller Smile, Lips, And Cheeks

Your cosmetic dentist may offer a smile makeover to improve a poorly shaped or aged face using an orthodontic or oral maxillofacial surgery.

Generally, your dentist will always work with you to create a treatment plan to suit your specific need. The treatment plan may involve more than a cosmetic and restorative procedure like gummy smile reduction, dental crowns, veneers, composite bonding, teeth whitening, and braces.

AESTHETIC ASPECTS OF A SMILE MAKEOVER

There are several other things your dentist will take into consideration asides teeth colour, alignment, balance, the position of the upper and lower teeth, and shape of the face. These other attributes include:

Smile Line

A smile line passes through the sides of your upper teeth from one side to the other. This imaginary line should be the same as the curve of your lower lip whenever you smile. This is usually the standard reference point that your cosmetic dentist will use to know the length of your new teeth.

Tooth Texture And Characterisation

The texture and characterisation of the teeth are essential during a smile makeover. Your artistic dentist characterises your new implants to either look more masculine or feminine depending on your sex so it can fit your look and feel more natural.

Tooth Length

The length of the teeth affects facial appearance. An example is a slimming effect on a round-faced person due to shapely, long, and square-shaped teeth. Age and gummy smile affect the length of the teeth; as people age, the teeth tend to wear and tear making them look shorter, but younger people tend to have longer teeth. A gummy smile can also make the teeth look shorter.

For shorter teeth, the dentist may reshape and lengthen the central front teeth using porcelain veneers or composite bonding while a gummy smile may require modification of the gum line and extending the look of the teeth with laser dentistry procedures or a crown lengthening procedure.

Tooth Proportion

Each tooth has to be in the right proportion to get a good makeover, so your cosmetic dentist has to examine each tooth to check if it is in proportion with others. The two central front teeth determine the standard teeth proportion. A good smile involves having the primary front teeth in a width-to-length ratio of 4:5 which is used as a guide to determine the aesthetics of the teeth relation to a balanced smile line.

Maintaining A Smile Makeover

Smile makeovers require periodic maintenance and regular oral hygiene care.

  • Teeth whitening needs to be repeated often to maintain the brightness of the teeth.
  • Porcelain veneers require replacement since they are prone to chipping and breaking off.
  • Replacement or enhancement of stained composite bonding and gummy smile improvement procedures.
  • Replacement of dental crowns after 10 - 15 years.

Before A Smile Makeover

Before your cosmetic dentist carries out any smile makeover procedure, he/she will carry out a detailed check on your teeth, bite, and underlying support structure to determine if you are qualified for the makeover.

If you have any oral health issues like gum disease or a misaligned bite, it will need to be fixed first before your smile makeover commences.

Preview

Different types of advanced dental technologies can show the expected result after treatment to give you an idea of what your teeth and smile will look like when your treatment is completed. In an oral health evaluation for veneers and crowns, your dentist will make a wax model imitation of the temporary teeth to be sent to the dental lab technician.

The wax models are used as a preview to confirm you are satisfied with the expected result of the makeover.

Your dentist may use any of the following methods to preview your smile makeover.

  • Dental imaging software

Dental imaging gives you an idea of what you should expect after the makeover, but the result may not be exactly what you get. Your cosmetic dentist can use dental imaging technologies to get the specification of your treatment plan which will be sent to the dental lab technician.

  • Dental composite bonding mock-up

Your dentist can use dental composite bonding as a mock-up for your smile makeover. Your dentist can bond a temporal composite material like resin to your teeth to see the effect on your teeth before the actual procedure.

Composite bonding helps you know how comfortable you will be with your new look, especially in treatments with veneers and dental composite bonding. With the result of a dental composite bonding mock-up, your dentist can make adjustments until you are comfortable with your appearance and smile.

  • Before and after photos

Your dentist may show you before and after pictures of other patients to give you an insight of what to expect after your procedure and the quality of work that he/she can do.

  • Dental study models

Dental study models involve your dentist taking an impression of your teeth and filling it with plaster to make an exact model of your teeth. The plaster will be adjusted to fit the result you desire. The study models can be used to show you what changes you expect and can also be used by the dental lab technicians as a guide when making your crown or veneer.

Your dentist may decide to use digital scans to create the models instead of the traditional impressions when working directly with a laboratory that uses digital technologies.

Cost Of A Smile Makeover

The cost of a smile makeover in London and length of treatment varies and depends on your dentist, oral health, location, insurance plan, and the level of your customised plan.

An existing dental health issue can increase the cost and duration of a smile makeover. Besides, if your insurance plan covers the payment of your restorative procedure, you may pay more than someone who has perfect oral health.

You can guarantee your smile looks good and your dental restorations last longer by visiting the dentist regularly and taking proper care of your teeth.

Aftercare

Practising oral hygienic habits is a good way to care for your dental restorations and maintain your new look for a long time.

Brushing two to three times daily with non-abrasive fluoride toothpaste is an effective way to maintain a smile makeover. Abrasive toothpaste and poor brushing habits can deteriorate the surface of a dental restoration by dulling their polish.

Flossing removes debris and plaque-causing bacteria. This increases the lifespan of restoration and prevents tooth decay. People with veneers require flossing the most because their gum health is very important.

Use alcohol-free mouthwashes because, over time, those containing alcohol negatively affects composite filling and degrades the bond between a dental restoration like a crown and your teeth.

Food And Drinks To Avoid Or Limit.

To ensure your dental restorations last longer and your smile makeover remains in good shape, there are certain foods and drinks to limit and avoid.

  • Foods high in sugar
  • Between-meal snacks
  • Coffee
  • Soda
  • Tea
  • Alcoholic beverages

Other precautions

Asides food and drinks, there are certain things to avoid to retain a smile makeover. Biting or chewing hard objects like stapler pins and bottle caps is one of them. If you grind your teeth at night, you will need to wear a nightguard to prevent it from damaging or wearing-off your teeth.

The lifespan of your smile makeover depends on proper care and how well your dentist carries out the procedure. However, a composite bonding typically lasts for 5 - 7 years while a porcelain restoration lasts for 10 - 15 years.

Porcelain veneers and composite bonding are quite expensive, so you will have to follow all the dentist's instructions if you don't want to spend more on changing them before they are due.

To maintain a smile makeover and ensure your new smile lasts longer, you need to follow your dentist’s instruction and attend all your follow-up and cleaning appointments with your hygienist or dentist.

You can reach out to our dentists today. Our dentists at Cosmetic dentistry clinic in London will guide you through the entire smile makeover process. Call us today on 020 71830755.