Complete Guide To Cosmetic Dentistry

Cosmetic Options Available

Cosmetic dentistry can be overwhelming and daunting for patients, not knowing where or how to begin the journey. A confident and beautiful smile can help project so much more than just its aesthetics. It can help with self-confidence, success, and mood and help project health and longevity by improving essential oral health. 

Cosmetic dentistry has become increasingly popular over the years. In essence, cosmetic dentistry is a process of improving the aesthetics of your smile through various treatments. Types of treatments and procedures to consider may range from 

• Composite Bonding
• Porcelain Veneers
• Dental Implants
• Invisalign
• Teeth whitening 

Cosmetic dentistry may include having one or more of these procedures to achieve the desired result.

Choosing The Right Cosmetic Treatment

At The Smile Designer Melbourne, we understand the complexity of our patients’ desires and emotional well-being. Therefore, the journey of getting there may require several different advanced cosmetic procedures depending on your specific goals and needs that will help shape and sculpt your smile. Choosing the right cosmetic treatment is all about having an open and transparent discussion about your goals and the desired outcome you want. We offer a range of treatments, and your cosmetic dentist will evaluate and discuss the options available to ensure you can make an informed decision.

What’s important is that patients understand that foundation is the key to longevity. Therefore, a good healthy foundation is essential before commencing any cosmetic procedure. Any underlying oral health issues and concerns will be examined and addressed to ensure nothing will hinder or complicate your cosmetic procedure. At The Smile Designer, we pride ourselves on having open, transparent, and honest discussions with our patients; therefore, after gathering the necessary information required, you will receive a customized treatment plan outlining your timeline and budget for your cosmetic procedure.

We understand that a smile is more than just aesthetics. We delve deeper into how your smile fits into your features, how you interact with your smile, how you talk, bite, and how your smile rests. By working together, identify and communicate the accuracy of the smile design. After having your comprehensive consultation, your dentist will digitally design a model of your enhanced smile that represents your smile aspirations. This allows you to see your ultimate desired results and how your end expected results would be.

Problems that Dental Bonding can address

Bonding is a tooth-coloured resin applied directly to broken, uneven and gapped teeth, which allows you to correct the size and shape of a tooth/teeth and improve the overall aesthetic of your smile. This adhesive procedure is inexpensive and quick, allowing you to achieve a natural result without compromising your original tooth structure.

Bonding can be an excellent solution to the following minor problems:

• Chipped Teeth
• Slightly shorter teeth
• Slightly misaligned teeth
• Slightly gapped/spaced out teeth
• Discoloured teeth

Not only does it serve a multipurpose with the ability to address various cosmetic concerns, as mentioned above, but it has numerous other advantages.

Time-efficient:

One of the reasons this is a popular treatment is that it is quick. The entire treatment process can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the number of teeth being restored. After your initial consultation, your dentist will design your ideal smile by assessing your facial features, discussing your desired goals and colour matching with you. You will then be prepped for the application of resin to be moulded to your tooth/teeth.

Doesn’t break the bank:

Due to less time in the chair and minimal materials being used, this cosmetic procedure is very cost-effective. Unlike other procedures such as porcelain veneers and crowns, which require customized labour and the cost of materials is higher, these can tend to be more time-consuming procedures and take longer; therefore, they can be more costly.

Natural Aesthetics:

At the smile designer, we have a highly experienced team that is results-driven. Therefore, we ensure we capture photography and videography of you in the studio to collect information that will help our professionals assess and analyze your smile and deliver the results you pay for. This is an essential step for us as we all know there are multiple shades of skin tones and various shades of teeth. We work closely with our patients to ensure the resin colour matching process is as close to your natural teeth to give the most natural and effective desired results.

Non-Invasive:

Minimal prep work on your teeth requires no enamel shaving. Instead, a special gel is applied to roughen the tooth’s surface to allow the resin material to adhere to the tooth. It is then moulded and shaped accordingly before a special ultraviolet light is exposed and applied to the resin, which allows it to harden and set. The resin is then polished and trimmed to complete the desired finish.

To find out if composite bonding is a suitable cosmetic procedure for your book in for your smile make-over consultation with one of our professionals to find out if you are a suitable candidate.

How Veneers Can Transform Your Smile 

Porcelain veneers is a term often seen on Instagram, TikTok, google and several media outlets. An internationally recognized procedure that has become increasingly popular over the last decade. A bright, symmetrical smile with natural aesthetics can attract many good things, whether love at first sight, confidence in a job interview, or just being able to freely and effortlessly laugh without worrying about your smile.

Porcelain veneers are ultra-thin porcelain shells designed to cover and cap over the front of a tooth. With innovative technology and talented ceramists, this durable stain-resistant material is customized to different sizes, shapes, and colours to customize a smile to each patient’s smile goals and address various problems. Porcelain veneers can serve multiple issues from aesthetics to improving function, whether cracked teeth, small teeth, gapped smiles, or discoloured and misaligned teeth. By adding proportion and symmetry, porcelain veneers can aid in creating a smooth arc to your bite.

Initial consultation:

At The Smile Designer, it is important that you feel at ease and comfortable in an environment. Your smile is an investment, and that is also why we want to ensure your investment in us means we deliver and bring you the best possible results. We believe in honesty and transparency. Your dentist will discuss a customized treatment plan outlining a timeline and costs at this consultation and collect the necessary information to start designing your smile.

Digital Design:

At this step, you have taken the leap in starting your smile journey, and we take a digital scan of your teeth and send this to our lab, where we work closely with our ceramists to begin the design process.

Temporary Veneer and Trial:

Your temporary veneers are ready to be inserted at this stage. Here the dentist will prep your teeth. This is one of the most critical steps as this is where you will be able to test trial your new smile. This allows our patients to see what the results will look like and to provide feedback on the shape, colour, and other characteristics they wish to keep or change. This step is crucial as this allows the ceramists to change the final porcelain veneer design if needed.

Final insertion:

At this stage, it’s your big day, where your final handcrafted porcelain veneers are ready to be inserted. Your cosmetic dentist will carefully remove your temporary veneers, and each final porcelain shell that has been customized and carefully curated is inserted for a try-in. This allows you and your dentist to assess and analyze them before they are permanently cemented. Once cemented, your teeth are cleaned and polished, ensuring your smile is nothing short of spectacular. After receiving the veneers, your dentist will spend time with you to ensure you understand the importance of practicing good oral hygiene. As part of good investments, we want to educate our patients on how to look after their new pearly whites to ensure longevity.

Dental Implants – Ditch The Dentures

At The Smile Designer, we use the latest innovative technology to bring you solutions to give you long-lasting dental implants that will improve the function of your teeth and gain back the confidence to smile again.

Dental implants are a permanent solution to your missing teeth where dentures are a thing of the past. Unlike removable dentures, dental implants are inserted into your gums to give you new tooth structure durability. With a 95% success rate, dental implants provide numerous advantages, from increased stability to improved aesthetics and are a cost-effective solution due it their longevity.

Types Of Dental Implants:

Single Dental Implant: This is a solution for those who have a single tooth missing and no longer have support for its surrounding teeth. Your dentist will ensure that the appropriate scans and tests are conducted to ensure you are the right candidate with sufficient bone density. There are two components: the titanium screw is embedded into the gum. After healing, a crown is prepared with the right colour match and screwed onto the titanium screw.

Multiple Dental Implants: As the name suggests, this applies to those with multiple teeth missing. The above method involves those with multiple teeth missing, and the same procedure is done to replace the multiple missing teeth. This is usually a lengthy process and requires more work as you are embedding in multiple titanium screws into the gum at the site of the missing teeth.

All on four dental implants: This is suitable for those with several missing teeth, and a single dental implant won’t suffice. A permanent dental implant option for those wanting to ditch the dentures where a complete set of prosthetic teeth are attached to four titanium screws on an arch that will support the entire set.

Every patient is unique; therefore, our team of professionals customize each treatment plan. No one set of teeth/jaws/gums are the same; consequently, it is necessary to tailor the right treatment and ensure you make an informative decision and know the available options. To discuss further if you are the right candidate or which solution best suits your needs, it is a vital step to book an implant consultation to discuss your treatment in detail.

Invisalign: The Invisible Way To Straighter Teeth

With over 12 million smiles changed with Invisalign worldwide, there is no doubt that it’s the most popular alternative to teeth straightening. Gone are the days when traditional wires and brackets were the only options for achieving a straighter smile. Now with innovative technology, Invisalign in melbourne helped many people worldwide achieve spectacular smiles. At The Smile Designer, we have invested in the iTero scanner, a 3D digital scanner that your dentist will use to scan your upper and lower arch carefully. This allows us to give our patients a personalized approach where we can sit down with you and show you a sneak peek of your Clincheck video at what your smile could look like.

It’s that simple. You are just a scan away from beginning your journey to a straighter smile. After your scan is complete, your aligners are manufactured by Invisalign. At your next appointment, you just pick up your first set of aligners. Each aligner is changed weekly or fortnightly depending on your treatment discussed with your dentist. Each aligner is unique and gently applies pressure on the teeth and moves the teeth into the desired position and are to be worn 22-24 hours a day. You are given 6–8-week routine check-ups with our dentist to ensure you are on the right track, and your teeth are moving accordingly for the desired goal.

Benefits of Invisalign:

• Aesthetically better as they are virtually Invisible
• Comfort with no brackets and wires, unlike traditional braces
• Easy to clean and removable
• Brushing and flossing made easy
• Fewer consultations

A Straight smile is a healthy smile. Aside from the aesthetic benefits, a straighter smile can reduce tooth decay, aid TMJ/TMD pain, and reduce gum and bone loss. Treatment can vary from person to person. Your treatment could be as little as four months or take as long as 12-18 months, depending on the complexity of your teeth. The complexity of your teeth will determine the cost and the level of treatment needed. We don’t want cosmetic treatments to be unattainable for our patients financially; therefore, we take into consideration the varying price points and provide tailored treatment plans and payment plan options to help achieve you the smile you always have dreamt of.

Teeth Whitening: A Brighter Smile, A Brighter You

Staining and yellowing teeth are not uncommon, and whilst avoiding food and drinks such as coffee and red wine may not be feasible, neither is having a smile that looks dull and discoloured. Aside from long-term consumption of certain foods and wine, other factors that can cause yellowing and staining of teeth are poor oral hygiene, tobacco use and long-term use of certain medications, which can cause permanent damage.

Teeth whitening is a popular cosmetic dental procedure used to restore your teeth to their bright white rejuvenated shine. At The Smile Designer, we offer both in-chair dental teeth whitening and take-home tooth whitening kits. Even though over-the-counter teeth whitening products, such as whitening strips and whitening toothpaste, professional dental-grade teeth whitening has far superior results.

To achieve the same results by using these over-the-counter products requires a frequent and regular application to get an effect somewhat like professional whitening. In contrast, a professional teeth whitening procedure usually delivers quicker and long-lasting results. Dental-grade professional teeth whitening uses hydrogen peroxide to whiten teeth, including potassium nitrate, which helps strengthen enamel and reduce any sensitivity that may occur.

The procedure:

• At The Smile Designer, we want to ensure you understand the importance of the foundation of your teeth. To consider teeth whitening treatment begins by ensuring your teeth and gums are healthy. So, you must have had a comprehensive check-up and clean by our dental professionals to avoid any sensitivity. Any cavities need to be addressed first before teeth whitening to prevent any complications. Teeth whitening has a far better result once debris and calculus on teeth have been removed and the teeth have been polished and cleaned.
• After a thorough clean, your dentist will take photographs and record the colour of your teeth.
• Your teeth and gums are prepped, and a cheek retractor is put in to keep the cheeks and lips away. Here we apply a gel, a gingival barrier that will protect the teeth and gums along the gumline.
• Philips Zoom whitening formulated gel is then applied, and the blue light is turned on to activate the gel whilst you lie and enjoy your favourite Netflix series, as the entire procedure can take up to 80-90 minutes.

With modern-day whitening treatments, enjoy your bright smile up to 8 shades whiter. At The Smile Designer, we want to ensure you can maintain your pearly whites at home with dental-grade take-home whitening kits. We offer a customized mouth tray by taking impressions of your teeth. With just a minimum of 2 hours a day and the comfort of your home, you can enjoy whitening your teeth with our whitening gels that can be purchased at the clinic.

Why Get Cosmetic Dentistry At The Smile Designer?

Our vision is to provide work with integrity, honesty, and transparency. Whatever cosmetic dental treatments you are interested in, know you are in good hands every step. We know every individual has their own story. Every individual is unique as well as their smile; therefore, our cosmetic treatment plans are tailored to each individual’s goals and desires to their specific needs keeping functionality, career and personal hobbies in mind. At The Smile Designer not only have a holistic and tailored approach, but our cosmetic dentists are results-driven, taking you through a journey by helping you and guiding you to understand the process of achieving that spectacular smile you deserve to shine.