Cosmetic Dentistry
Our passion is making our patients’ smiles the best and brightest they can be! We know that there is nothing more valuable than the self-esteem gained from having a terrific smile, which is why we offer a variety of advanced aesthetic dental procedures. Review the cosmetic dentistry offerings in the Pasadena, MD office.
Veneers
Veneers are thin, semi-translucent shells customized from porcelain material and bonded to your teeth. Veneers are a great alternative to otherwise painful dental procedures to quickly improve the appearance of your smile.
Some common problems veneers are used for include:
Spaces between teeth
Broken or chipped teeth
Unsightly, stained or discolored teeth
Permanently stained or discolored teeth
Crooked or misshapen teeth
Veneers are a great aesthetic solution to your smile that may even help you avoid orthodontic treatment. Subtle changes to your smile can be achieved with veneers, and in most cases, veneer application is completed in only two office visits.
Crowns
A crown is a custom-made covering that fits over an original tooth that is either decayed, damaged or cracked. Crowns are made of a variety of different materials such as porcelain, gold, acrylic resin or a mix of these materials.
The treatment plan for a patient receiving a crown usually involves:
Numbing the tooth to remove the decay in or around it
Re-sculpturing the tooth to provide an ideal fit for the crown
Making a physical or digital impression of your teeth in order to create the custom crown
Making a temporary crown out of acrylic resin and fitting it to the tooth while the custom crown is being made
Removing the temporary crown and fitting the custom-made one onto the tooth
Ensuring that the crown has the proper look and fit, and cementing it into place
New technologies have greatly reduced the time needed to make strong, natural-looking crowns. Once the procedure is completed, proper care should be taken to ensure the crown remains in good condition and the teeth and gums are healthy. Given proper care, your crowns can last a lifetime!
Bridges
A bridge is a dental device that fills a space that a tooth previously occupied. A bridge may be necessary to prevent the shifting of teeth, to fix bite problems or to ensure the strength and integrity of the surrounding teeth.
Fixed bridges are the most popular, and consist of a filler tooth attached to two crowns in order to hold the bridge in place. “Maryland” bridges, commonly used to replace missing front teeth, use tooth-colored metal bands bonded to surrounding teeth. And cantilever bridges use two crowned teeth positioned next to each other on the same side of the missing tooth.
Regardless of your needs, we have a bridge solution that will work best!
Dental Implants
Dental implants are one of the most popular choices for replacing missing teeth, due to its many strengths as a procedure. With dental implants, your tooth replacement looks, feels, bites and functions almost exactly like an actual tooth. Made of a biocompatible metal, implants are placed into the jaw and fuse with the surrounding bone and tissue. A crown is then placed on the abutment. Implants are a great choice for:
Single Tooth Replacement
Anterior Replacement
Posterior Replacement
Full Upper Replacement
Composite Bonding
Composite bonding is used to improve the appearance of your teeth and enhance your smile. As the name indicates, composite material, either a plastic or resin, is bonded to an existing tooth. Unlike veneers or crowns, composite bonding removes little, if any, of the original tooth.
Composite bonding has many advantages:
Quick: composite bonding typically takes less than an hour to complete.
Conservative: Bonding does not reduce the tooth’s original structure, keeping more good tooth enamel intact.
Frugal: Bonding is relatively inexpensive.
Natural: Composite resins better match natural tooth shades.