Aesthetic Dental Medicine
Aesthetic Dental Medicine
Nowadays many people are looking for a way to improve their appearance. This is the reason for the extremely fast development of aesthetic dental medicine. This category includes various procedures because the patients’ desires and needs as well as their understanding of beauty may vary substantially.
No matter whether you would like to have whiter, straighter or longer teeth, the so called smile design enables you to have control of the entire process, and to be certain of the final result, the new and shining smile that you have always dreamed of.
Once the patient has decided to improve the aesthetics of her or his smile, there has to be a preliminary design, the so called wax-up. This is the first preparatory stage that serves for analysis. Only after its completion the final plan for smile design can be worked out in accordance with all laws of aesthetics, biology, and physiology.
The design of the future smile is worked out together with the doctor and the dental laboratory and takes about 10-15 working days.
It helps determine the number of the teeth that will be included in the procedure, rectify the soft tissue (the so called red aesthetics), and correct the occlusion (the bite).
The design gives an exact idea about how much of the hard dental tissue should be prepared as well as about the creation of temporary constructions.
Furthermore, it enables the patient to see in advance what her or his future smile will look like, and to correct the shape of the teeth and other details of the smile according to her or his desires.
In order to perform this analysis, it is necessary to have:
- Imprints of the upper and lower jaws, and the bite
- X-ray photographs
- Photos
Veneers are thin “flakes” of ceramic or composite material which are placed on the front surface of the tooth.
Veneers are generally applied on teeth that are stained (as a result of root canal treatment, tooth resorption, or staining with tetracycline), broken, and have many fillings and/or incorrect position. The veneers protect broken and worn-out teeth.
Ceramic veneers are made with imprints which are taken in advance in a laboratory. Composite veneers are made and placed on the tooth directly by your dentist. Porcelain veneers are more colour-resistant in comparison to composite ones.
The procedure for preparation and placement of porcelain veneers includes several steps. The first step is the making of a wax-up (smile design and analysis). The next step is the removal of a thin layer from the enamel on the tooth’s front surface to create space for the veneer, and its “adhesion” to the tooth. The latest trend (when possible) is for a minimum preparation of the tooth in which it is roughened only slightly. Imprints are usually taken on the same visit. Immediately after the preparation of the tooth or teeth, temporary veneers are placed. Ceramic veneers are usually cemented on the third visit. In a week, you should make an appointment for a check-up.
If there is caries, the dentist aims to treat the tooth and restore it in such a way that the filling would not be visible. If any of the incisors is affected, the technique and the way of recovery are different in order to meet higher aesthetic requirements.
Bonding is a procedure in which a high-quality polymer is applied on the affected tooth. The composite is shaped, formed and polished in such a way so as to be adapted to the rest of the tooth as well as to the adjacent teeth. The photopolymer should be of very good quality for an aesthetic result to be achieved. It should contain different pigments which not only can coincide with the colour of the tooth, but can also have a different degree of transparency. An extremely important characteristic of the photopolymer is the potential to polish it to a shining appearance. Several layers of different shades of photocomposite and special effects are usually used to achieve the right colour and transparency.
Bonding is used for:
- Caries of incisors
- Broken incisors
- Crown lengthening
- Shape correction
- Cutting edge correction
- Covering defects from gum recession
- Closing the gaps between the teeth
Sometimes your perfectly arranged teeth are only in need of whitening. There are a number of myths which can dissuade you from taking advantage of this service. We are here to refute them. When the procedure is performed by a specialist using the world’s best system, the result is a shining white smile.
There are two main ways of teeth whitening depending on where it takes place: at a dental practice (clinical) or at home (domestic). The difference between them lies in the concentration of the applied whitening gel. The concentration of the gel also accounts for the difference in the duration of the procedure.
It is recommended that a cleaning of subgingival tartar and dental plaque be performed before whitening for better results.
