What Is Natural Cosmetic Dentistry?
When people hear “Cosmetic Dentistry” they picture veneers or “caps”... Perhaps better known as the big, thick, chiclet-like teeth that look super fake.
and sometimes with black lines at the gumline.
Twenty years ago that image would have been pretty accurate.
With Natural Cosmetic Dentistry, however, everything has changed (for the better). It's now possible to get a perfect smile that looks natural AND doesn’t cause damage to your teeth or your health.
In this chapter, we help clear the air around the all-important question, “What is Natural Cosmetic Dentistry?”
Disconnected Cosmetic Dentistry
Our mouths are connected to the rest of our bodies.
This seems pretty obvious, but unfortunately, dentistry has been practiced for years without considering how your dental work will impact the rest of your body.
Everything we do in our mouth can affect the way our body reacts, feels, and holds up over time. For example:
- The material that makes up your filling or crown can impact the health of your digestive system.
- The way your teeth fit together after dental work can cause jaw joint pain or migraine headaches.
- Dental procedures like root canals, implants, and tooth extractions can cause other long-term health problems that you may have never thought of before agreeing to the procedure.
When it comes to getting a perfect smile you shouldn’t have to compromise your health…
This is where Natural Cosmetic Dentistry comes in.
What Is Natural Cosmetic Dentistry?
Every natural cosmetic dental procedure is performed with your whole body in mind. Only biocompatible materials are used – plus, all techniques are performed as non-invasively as possible.
There is a delicate balance between finding materials that are safe AND methods that are still incredibly effective. Advances in materials and techniques used in Natural Cosmetic Dentistry have now made this balancing act not only possible but easy to maintain.
With natural cosmetic dentistry, there is no more need to compromise. You get to improve your smile AND your health at the same time.
How Did Traditional Cosmetic Dentistry Work?
Cosmetic dentistry in years past usually included doing crowns or veneers in order to give you a straight and white smile.
The process usually went like this.
- The dentist would shave your teeth down and remove large amounts of enamel and tooth structure on the teeth that you wanted to fix.
- The dentist would then place temporary crowns or veneers.
- Several weeks later, the final porcelain crowns or veneers would be cemented in place.
So, what’s the problem with this?
Well, the first warning sign is the amount of tooth structure that had to be removed in this three-step process.
Whenever you remove enamel (the outer part of the tooth), you never get it back.
The materials used years ago to make crowns and veneers were very delicate and brittle. They had to be made really thick so that they were strong enough to last. The trade-off was that you had to remove a lot of enamel and replace it with thick porcelain.
On top of that, the thickness of the material often looked unnatural (some say they look like chiclets or called them “caps”)
Many of the older crowns also contained metal beneath the porcelain. This made that tell-tale gray line at the gumline that just screams “fake” to anyone who sees it. These metals have been known to create a long-term impact on your health, including allergic reactions to materials like cheap jewelry.
How is Natural Cosmetic Dentistry Different From Traditional Cosmetic Dentistry?
With Natural Cosmetic Dentistry, there is a much better way.
Thanks to scientific advances in materials and techniques, we can now give people a beautiful smile without requiring much removal of the natural tooth.
In many cases, we can do it without the removal of any tooth structure at all!
Not only are these new materials and techniques better for your teeth, but they also avoid that fake “chiclet” look that you often see with the old styles of cosmetic dentistry.
Metal isn’t required anymore either, so no worries about gray lines at the gumline, allergic reactions, or long-term effects on your health.
Now, that we’ve answered the question “What is natural cosmetic dentistry?” it’s time to address specific natural cosmetic dentistry procedures. In Chapter 2 we’ll outline all of the best treatment options out there PLUS show you some real-life before and after pictures of our actual patients.
Get a FREE At-Home Virtual Smile Consultation
Receive a FREE virtual smile consultation with one of the Cosmetic Dental experts at Total Care Dental and find out if Natural Cosmetic Dentistry is the best choice for you.
This free virtual consultation is all about getting your major questions and concerns answered directly from an expert. Our doctors can answer anything for you, including:
- Would natural cosmetic dentistry work for me?
- What costs should I expect?
- How long will the treatment take?
- And any other questions you may have.
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