Minimally Invasive Cosmetic Dentistry

In a day of advanced technology when it comes to cosmetic dentistry, there are still options available to transform teeth from crooked, stained, cracked or chipped to simply spectacular by minimally invasive methods. This means that there is very little of the existing natural tooth structure that has to be removed or tampered with during the procedure.

This is good news to a lot of people. The other benefit of minimally invasive cosmetic dentistry is that it is often quick and retains more of the original teeth than the more aggressive procedures. Generally, a dentist's goal is to preserve as much original tooth structure as possible while improving the patient's smile, bite and tooth alignment.

Cosmetic dentistry methods that are minimally invasive include laser treatments for gum disease, implants to replace lost teeth, veneers and tooth bleaching. These treatments can usually be done in only a few visits to the dentist, and can provide significant improvements to the appearance of the patient's smile.

Laser treatments for gum disease are much less aggressive than methods that require the dentist to remove gum and/or bone around the teeth. The laser effectively kills bacteria causing the gum disease and completely eliminates the need for surgical remedies.

When a patient has missing teeth due to previous injuries or extractions, a dental implant using a titanium rod is a very effective way of replacing the tooth and improving the smile, eliminating the gaps where the teeth were missing. Dental implants have increased in popularity over the last few decades as a preferred tooth replacement treatment.

Veneers for dental cosmetic purposes basically involves using a type of adhesive to put a pre-formed thin layer of porcelain on the front of the natural teeth. This thin layer of porcelain is made to look like perfectly shaped bright white teeth, and it can hide a lot of dental imperfections. This method generally doesn't require much if any grinding down of the natural teeth before they are applied. Some people refer to this method as instant braces because it doesn't matter how imperfect the teeth looked before they are applied, once applied the patient sports a "Hollywood smile."

Tooth bleaching can be a quick and effective method of removing some types of stains from teeth. Coffee, tea, tobacco and other stains which reside on the outside of the teeth are usually effectively removed by tooth bleaching. Some tooth staining that occurs as a result of antibiotics, is located inside the tooth and doesn't respond as well to this method. While there may be many tooth beaching kits that are available to purchase in local stores, tooth bleaching may be more effective when done by a dentist or dental professional.