I looked into a smile makeover. The top recommendation always seems to be porcelain veneers, but the price tag on those is through the roof. Are there any decent cosmetic dentistry options for those of us with normal incomes. I have stained and chipped teeth. I’d love to be able to get a smile I can be proud of.
Brittany
Dear Brittany,
Life is expensive, isn’t it? It would be great if all of us were independently wealthy and could just purchase what we wanted without fear of ending up homeless as a result. Fortunately, there’s a way for you to get a beautiful smile while having an average-sized budget.
Inexpensive Cosmetic Dentistry Solutions
The least expensive thing you can do for your teeth is also extremely effective at making you look years younger— teeth whitening. This is an amazing way to brighten your smile and it doesn’t cost a fortune. Plus, it’s foundational to almost every other procedure.
Even those who get porcelain veneers will often whiten at least their bottom arch of teeth first because they don’t want to pay for veneers on both arches, but do want the two halves of their smile to come close to the same color.
For your chipped teeth, the go-to solution is to have dental bonding done. This uses a composite resin, which your cosmetic dentist will hand sculpt onto your tooth filling in all missing structure. When combining this with whitening your teeth, it’s imperative you do the whitening procedure first.
Only natural tooth structure responds to whitening gel. If you decided to get the bonding done first, when you go to whiten your teeth, the teeth will brighten but the bonding portions will stay the same color, giving your smile a blotchy, mismatched appearance.
But, when you do the whitening first, the composite bonding can be made to match the new whiter color of your teeth giving you a beautiful, uniform color for your smile.
Just those two procedures alone, neither of which costs too much, will give you a smile you’ll be happy to share.
This blog is brought to you by Portage, MI Dentist Dr. Susan Dennis.