Dental veneers are a form of cosmetic dentistry in which a shell or layer of tooth-colored porcelain or composite is placed over the facial surfaces of your teeth to correct worn tooth enamel, uneven tooth alignment or spacing, discoloration and chips or cracks.

Cosmetic Veneers
Regardless of what causes unattractive teeth, dental veneers may solve most or even all of your cosmetic dental issues, including:
Worn enamel : Over time, the thin, hard translucent substance covering your teeth (enamel) may become worn, dulled and discolored. Such wear and discoloration may be natural or result from a genetic predisposition. However, it often results from consuming soft drinks, tea or coffee; smoking; using certain medications, etc.
Wear and tear : Teeth naturally wear down as people age. Aged teeth are more likely to have chips, cracks or a generally uneven appearance.
Genetics : Certain people are born with abnormal spacing between their teeth that widens with age.
Uneven teeth : Uneven teeth can result from tooth grinding or general wear and tear.

Porcelain Veneers and Composite Resin Veneers
The two most common materials used to fabricate or create dental veneers are composite resin and porcelain. Indirect (created outside of your mouth) porcelain veneers and composite veneers are made by a dental technician in a dental laboratory; direct (created directly on your teeth) composite veneers are made by your dentist during your appointment at the dental office.

Dental bonding is a procedure in which a tooth-colored resin material (a durable plastic material) is applied and hardened with a special light, which ultimately "bonds" the material to the tooth to restore or improve person's smile.

Dental bonding is an option that can be considered:
• To repair decayed teeth (composite resins are used to fill cavities)
• To repair chipped or cracked teeth
• To improve the appearance of discolored teeth
• To close spaces between teeth
• To make teeth look longer
• To change the shape of teeth
• As a cosmetic alternative to amalgam fillings
• To protect a portion of the tooth's root that has been exposed when gums recede

The term ‘smile design’ is often used as the synonym of a dental treatment with esthetic purposes. Smile designing is the planning and pre-visualization of the desired end result of an esthetic dental treatment targeting a more harmonious state instead of the current disharmony, according the rules of facial, smile, tooth and gingival harmony and the individual needs of the patient, paying particular attention to the functional aspects and the feasibility.

What is it that you like or dislike about your smile or your teeth? Some aspects of your smile that your cosmetic dentist will review with you and that could be improved with a smile makeover include the following :

Tooth Colour : Silver or amalgam dental fillings can be replaced with natural, tooth-coloured composite restorations, while teeth whitening can improve the colour of stained or dulled teeth. Tooth colour and shading are important considerations during the evaluation of and preparation for various procedures, including porcelain veneers, crowns, bridges, composite bonding and dental implants.

Alignment and Spacing : Teeth that are crooked, overlapping or have gaps between them can be straightened and aligned when necessary through orthodontics or Invisalign and improved with veneers.

Missing Teeth : One or more missing teeth can negatively affect the appearance of your smile – as well as affect your bite and increase your risk for tooth decay – making replacement an integral part of oral health and facial esthetics. Missing teeth can be replaced by dental implants, bridges or partial dentures.

Harmony and Balance : Uneven, chipped and cracked teeth can be cosmetically bonded for an improved appearance, and a gummy smile can be re-contoured to help improve the overall look of the smile. Fuller Lips, Smile and Cheeks : An unshapely or aging face can be improved or rejuvenated with certain procedures in the smile makeover category, including orthodontics and/or oral maxillofacial surgery.

Tooth Length : Long teeth lend a youthful appearance. Aging produces wear and tear that often results in shorter teeth, and a gummy smile also can make teeth appear shorter. A smile makeover treatment for shorter teeth may include reshaping and lengthening the two front central teeth with composite bonding or porcelain veneers. If you have a gummy smile, your cosmetic dentist may provide treatment to modify the gum line and lengthen the appearance of the teeth using laser dentistry procedures. You may also be referred to a periodontist for crown lengthening if necessary.

A dental laser is a type of laser designed specifically for use in oral surgery or dentistry.

Application :
Tooth decay : Lasers are used to remove decay within a tooth and prepare the surrounding enamel for receipt of the filling. Lasers are also used to "cure" or harden a filling.
Gum disease : Lasers are used to reshape gums and remove bacteria during root canal procedures.
Biopsy or lesion removal : Lasers can be used to remove a small piece of tissue (called a biopsy) so that it can be examined for cancer. Lasers are also used to remove lesions in the mouth and relieve the pain of canker sores.
Teeth whitening : Lasers are used to speed up in-office teeth whitening procedures. A peroxide bleaching solution, applied to the tooth surface, is ''activated" by laser energy, which speeds up of the whitening process.

Gapped teeth are considered to be the most common problem these days, especially among people who have habit of chewing pen cap. Besides, people who had the habit of sucking their thumb in childhood may also experience gapped teeth in adulthood. Moreover, the age factor and genetic factor also plays a crucial role in causing space between teeth. Fortunately, there are several treatments available in the dentistry world that can eliminate the gap between your teeth and help you to get back the confident smile again. This procedure is considered to be the best cosmetic dentistry technique that not only eliminate the space between the teeth, but also enhance the look of your teeth.

You're crunching ice or a piece of hard candy when you notice something hard in your mouth that doesn't melt or dissolve. You get a sick feeling as you realize what it is — a piece of broken tooth.
In some cases, it’s facial trauma from a fall, a car accident, a sporting injury or from a variety of other causes that results in a broken or chipped tooth . If you’ve received head, neck or facial trauma of any kind, you really need to go to the ER or see a doctor before you deal with dental issues. When trauma causes nose or ear bleeding, dizziness, memory lapses, disorientation or a headache, it’s essential to go to the ER immediately. In most cases, there will be an oral surgeon available there to handle emergency dental issues including jaw fractures and tooth extractions. They can even restore the dental arch in some cases.

Dental Filling or Bonding
Bonding is a simple procedure that typically does not require numbing the tooth. To bond a tooth, the dentist first etches its surface with a liquid or gel to roughen it and make the bonding material adhere to it. Next, the dentist applies an adhesive material to the tooth, followed by the bonding material. After shaping the bonding material to look like a natural tooth, the dentist uses an ultraviolet light to harden the material.

Dental Cap or Crown
If a large piece of tooth breaks off or the tooth has a lot of decay, the dentist may grind or file away part of the remaining tooth and cover it with a crown, or tooth-shaped cap, made to protect the tooth and improve its appearance. Permanent crowns can be made from metal, porcelain fused to metal, all resin, or all ceramic. Different types have different benefits. All-metal crowns are the strongest. Porcelain and resin crowns can be made to look nearly identical to the original tooth.

If the entire top of the tooth is broken off but the root is still intact, the dentist or an endodontist (a dentist who specializes in root canals) may perform a root canal and place a pin or a post in the canal, and then build up enough of a structure onto which a crown can be made. Later, the dentist can cement the crown over the pin or post-retained restoration.

Dental Veneers
If a front tooth is broken or chipped, a dental veneer can make it look whole and healthy again. A dental veneer is a thin shell of tooth-colored porcelain or resin composite material that covers the whole front of the tooth (much like a false nail covers a fingernail) with a thicker section to replace the broken part of the tooth.

Root Canal Treatment
If a tooth chip or break is large enough to expose the pulp -- the center of the tooth containing nerves and blood vessels -- bacteria from the mouth can enter and infect the pulp. If your tooth hurts, changes color, or is sensitive to heat, the pulp is probably damaged or diseased. Pulp tissue can die and if it's not removed, the tooth can become infected and need to be extracted. Root canal therapy involves removing the dead pulp, cleaning the root canal, and then sealing it. Root canal therapy may be performed by general dentists or specialists called endodontists. Most root canals are no more painful than having a cavity filled. In most cases, the remaining tooth must be covered with a crown to protect the now-weakened tooth.

A filling is a way to restore a tooth damaged by decay back to its normal function and shape. When a dentist gives you a filling, he or she first removes the decayed tooth material, cleans the affected area, and then fills the cleaned out cavity with a filling material.

By closing off spaces where bacteria can enter, a filling also helps prevent further decay. Materials used for fillings include gold, porcelain, a composite resin (tooth-colored fillings), and an amalgam (an alloy of mercury, silver, copper, tin and sometimes zinc).

Splinting is a technique used to stabilize teeth which have become loose as a result of losing the supporting bone around them to periodontal disease, a condition known as secondary occlusal trauma. Frequently the problem is complicated by heavy bite stress.

There are two basic types of periodontal splinting, with some variation. The first is "extra-coronal splinting", in which a stabilizing wire, fiber-reinforced ribbon, or similar stabilization device, is bonded to the outsides of the teeth like a fixed orthodontic retainer. The second is "intra-coronal splinting", in which a slot is milled into the affected teeth, and the stabilizing device is inserted into the slot and bonded in place. This can make the splint less visible, but accomplishes the same goal of immobilizing the teeth.

If the teeth have lost more than 40% of the supporting "alveolar" bone around them, a diagnosis of "severe" periodontal disease is made. Most often, teeth that are mobile (loose) enough to require splinting have that diagnosis. However, if the tooth roots are abnormally short or thin, or if the bone around them is not particularly dense, the teeth may be loose when less than 40% of the volume has been lost.

If your teeth are discolored, veneers are probably a good way to go. In cases of severe tooth discoloration which are generally caused by “intrinsic” staining (staining to the tooth structure itself); as in teeth that are non-vital (when the living pulpal tissue in the center of the tooth has died), discoloration caused by fillings, tetracycline antibiotic staining and other reasons, your dentist may recommend that your teeth be whitened as best as possible before applying the veneers to enhance the result.

Gum depigmentation OR gum bleaching is a procedure used in cosmetic dentistry to remove black spots or patches on the gums caused by excessive melanin. The normal color of the gum tissue (gingiva) is pink, but excess deposits of melanin (melanin gingival hyperpigmentation) can create what seem to be black spots or patches on the gums, creating an aesthetic or cosmetic problem. Discolouration may also be caused by long term use of certain medications.

De-pigmentation of gums is a procedure that falls under cosmetic dentistry or smile designing. It is done in order to enhance the smile by removing the black dots or dark patches on the gums. Most of the people face this issue of de-pigmentation. 90% of them avoid the issue, thinking that it is the natural color of the gum. But the fact is that gums normally have pink color.

When you smile, the appearance of your upper teeth is overshadowed by excessive gum tissue. This condition is commonly called a "gummy smile" or excessive gingival display.

Gummy smile can have a negative effect on the esthetics of your smile. There are several possible causes of gummy smile, including :

• An excessive display of gum tissue in your upper jaw can result from the abnormal eruption of the teeth. Teeth covered by excessive gum tissue appear short, even though they may actually be the proper length.
• The muscle that controls the movement of your upper lip could be hyperactive, causing your upper lip to rise up higher than normal. When this occurs, more of your gum tissue is exposed when you smile.
• The manner in which your upper jaw bone grew and developed could cause the appearance of a gummy smile. For instance, if there was an excessive bulging protrusion of the upper jaw within the gum tissue, you would experience an obvious gummy appearance when you smile.

If you think you have a gummy smile, visit your dentist for confirmation and treatment options. Your dentist will examine your mouth, teeth and gums to determine the extent of the excessive gingival display and any possible causes. This examination may involve conventional and/or digital impressions of your teeth and gums. You may also need X-ray imaging so that the tooth roots and jaw bone can be carefully examined.

Dental jewellery is the latest thing to add a sparkle to your dazzling whites, you can now have a sparkling crystal glass design or something in gold or a twinkle of ruby or maybe an aquamarine blue diamond shining on your tooth. These tiny tooth accessories are great fun and add a zing to your pearlies!!!!
The tooth jewellery used and the procedure for applying it are absolutely safe! The application is a very simple procedure. Just like an orthodontic bracket, the design is bonded on to your tooth structure. You can have it removed at any time, or simply replace it with another one. Since there is no drilling involved (it is directly bonded to the tooth surface), it doesn’t harm your teeth and is absolutely painfree!

At OROFACIAL SOLUTIONS, you can have a lot of designs to choose from.
These tooth accessories can give you an enchanting dazzle without worrying about brushing, eating or the sparkling crystals becoming dull or changing colour. So now get ready to spice up your smile and get noticed in parties or any special occasion and besides all this, it costs a little more than peanuts!!!!