Is Your Smile Starting To Look Older? Our O’Fallon Dentists Are Here To Help
There is no way to keep your teeth from aging. There are, however, treatments you can pursue to rejuvenate your smile. Our O’Fallon cosmetic dentists are here to help you love your smile again!
Here are 3 things that can make your smile look older:
- Stains: many of our favorite foods and drinks, like coffee, tea, wine, red sauces, and chocolate, can leave color deposits on your teeth over time. You may be able to see specific brown or yellow streaks and stains, or your teeth may start to look darker overall.
- Thin Enamel: right below the dental enamel is a tooth layer called the dentin. Dentin is darker than the enamel on the surface of your tooth. So, if your enamel is thinning, your smile will likely look dull and discolored.
- Worn Down Teeth: healthy teeth are strong, but they are not at all indestructible. It’s just a fact that teeth can wear down due to:
- Regularly chewing hard candies, ice, or cough drops
- Tooth-on-tooth contact caused by bruxism
- Using a toothbrush that is too stiff and abrasive
Worn down teeth often look disproportionately short and stubby. The edges of your tooth may also change shape.
When you are ready to refresh your smile, you have a number of effective treatments from which to choose:
- Professional Dental Whitening: this treatment lightens natural dental enamel using a potent topical whitening gel. The formulations we use in-office are more highly concentrated, and thus more effective, than over the counter options.
- Dental Bonding: using composite resin our dental team can resurface unsightly enamel and rebuild missing parts of your tooth. Dental bonding is completed in just one day; we shade the composite resin to match your natural tooth shade.
- Porcelain Veneers: another way to transform your smile is to use porcelain veneers. A veneer is about as thick as a contact lens. Once it is affixed to your natural tooth, it stays in place permanently. Veneers might be right for you if you want to close gaps between your teeth, make your smile appear whiter, and cover dental damage.
We hope that you now feel a little better informed on how to care for your smile, and even restore it if you are ready for a younger-looking, fresh smile. You can always contact our O’Fallon dentists by phone or through our Contact Us page to get started!