Cosmetic dentistry of today does a lot more than make your smile look better; it often improves your oral health as well. If you have broken, chipped, crooked, or misaligned teeth or a gap between your teeth that doesn’t look good, modern dentistry can help.
Not only does cosmetic dentistry make your teeth, gums, and bite look better, but it can also help your teeth and gums stay healthy.Â
Many Common Dental Procedures Done Today Falling Under The Umbrella Of Cosmetic Dentistry:
- Bonding
- CrownsÂ
- Gum grafts
- Enameloplasty
- Whitening your teeth
- Changes to teeth
- Bridges And Implants
- Orthodontics with Invisalign®
- Bite registration
- Inlays and onlays
Here Are Some Ways Cosmetic Dentistry Is Good for your health:
Stops Tooth Decay
If your teeth are crooked and close to each other, it’s harder to clean in between them. Your risk of tooth decay goes up, which can lead to cavities. A tooth with a large cavity that takes up much of it is more likely to break. A crown can save the tooth and keep the bone from breaking down. Crowns made today are the same color and shape as your other teeth.
Getting Your Teeth Aligned
If your teeth aren’t lined up right, your top teeth don’t fit right over your bottom teeth. You may have a severe overbite, where your top teeth stick out too far. An underbite, where your bottom teeth stick out more than your top row of teeth, or a crossbite, where some of your top teeth are under your bottom teeth.
When your teeth aren’t in the right place, and your bite is off, it can cause headaches, tooth decay, tooth grinding, and maybe even gum disease. You might find it hard to chew or even to talk. Misalignment can cause pain in your jaw when you eat, and a condition called TMJ is an injury to the temporomandibular joint, the main joint in your jaw.
The loss of a tooth can also cause misalignment. If you lose a tooth and don’t replace it, your other teeth may become loose and shift out of place. This can start a chain reaction that hurts your oral health. Dental implants are a great option if you’ve had a tooth pulled and need to replace it. Implants keep your other teeth from moving out of place and keep your jawbone and other teeth healthy.
Orthodontics, both traditional and Invisalign, are used in cosmetic dentistry to straighten teeth that aren’t in the right place.
Stop Gum Disease
If your teeth are too close together and get crooked or if you have a bad bite, you may be more likely to get gum disease. When your teeth are close together, it’s hard to get between them to clean. Too much bacteria stays in your mouth, making your gums swell. This is called gingivitis.
When there is too much inflammation, the gum pulls away from the teeth, making pockets where bacteria can grow. These pockets of bacteria can destroy the bone and tissue that hold your teeth in place. In extreme cases, bone loss can make the jaw look different.
Researchers think gum disease may make you more likely to get heart disease because it narrows the arteries leading to the heart. Your oral health is tied to your overall health in a way that can’t be separated. Orthodontics can straighten out teeth that aren’t in the right place or are crooked. This can help you avoid gingivitis and advanced gum disease.
It Gets Easier And More Effective To Brush And Floss
When the gums pull away from the teeth, exposing some of the tooth roots, some people need gum contouring. Gum recession can be caused by gum disease, grinding teeth, getting older, brushing too hard, or even being born with it. A gum graft replaces lost gum tissue, making the roots less sensitive to hot or cold foods and drinks and less likely to get infected by bacteria.
Replacing Missing Teeth Keeps A Smile Good
When you’re having missing teeth, they leave gaps in your smile, making it hard to talk and eat. Losing a tooth because of an accident or disease can also hurt your oral health. When you don’t fill in the spaces between your teeth, your other teeth may move into the space. Your jawbone starts to shrink as well.
When you replace missing teeth with implants put into your jawbone and topped with a porcelain crown, they feel like your natural teeth and help you keep your oral health in good shape.
Proper Ridge Augmentation
Ridge augmentation brings the backbone that was lost. If you lose a tooth, your gums and jawbone may form a depression above where the tooth used to be. Ridge augmentation is a procedure that fills in the depression to make your gums and jaw look like they did before. Most of the time, a bone graft is used to replace atrophied bone. This helps keep your face’s shape and stops your jawbone from getting worse, which can cause tooth decay and a sagging smile.
If you are interested in having a cosmetic dentistry treatment in Oak Park then you can visit our best cosmetic dentist in a nearby location.