Bad and Sore Teeth - Treatment of Tooth disorders and Teeth Care

No one needs to emphasize the importance placed today on having a beautiful smile. Aside from aesthetic considerations, stained, chipped, and noticeably worn teeth make people appear older than they are; conversely, healthy teeth create the impression of youth. With age, teeth darken more readily from exposure to coffee, tea, tobacco, juices, and cola. Stains can also be caused by old, defective dental fillings, tooth nerve damage, or trauma to the teeth. Clenching your jaw and grinding your teeth also make your teeth look older. In most people, chipped and worn teeth occur with advancing age. The older the tooth, the more vulnerable it is to chipping and staining.

Fortunately, there is a variety of treatments. A cosmetic dentist (also called a restorative dentist or prosthodontist) can bleach, bond, laminate, and contour teeth to make them look better. The least-invasive treatments include bleaching, bonding, laminating, and contouring. Bleaching stained or discolored teeth can be performed in the dentist's office or at home, but it is recommended that home bleaching should be performed at the direction of a cosmetic dentist. This treatment, which is most effective on orange, yellow, and brown stains, involves the use of a diluted mix of carbamide peroxide, which is applied in a small, thin, custom mouth guard that is worn for a prescribed number of hours a day (usually during sleep) for two to six weeks. If you persevere, you will enjoy noticeably whiter teeth.

Slight touch-ups are usually necessary after a few years. Some people are sensitive to white bleaching, in which case the dentist will change the regimen-usually prescribing the mouth guard for shorter daily sessions for a more consecutive period of days. Unlike bleach treatments, bonding whitens teeth by the application of small pieces of tooth-colored plastic on the surface of teeth to mask stubborn stains. Bonding is also used to repair chips. Bonding is fairly pain-free, and in most cases patients do not even require local anesthesia. Also, sensitivity is rarely a problem after treatment.

Laminates (sometimes called "veneers") are thin shells made of tooth-colored plastic or porcelain, manufactured in pharmaceutical laboratories. A dentist cements these onto your existing teeth. Laminates can improve the shape and color of teeth, and are particularly effective on moderately worn teeth. The procedure sometimes requires local anesthesia. There should be no post-treatment sensitivity. Contouring of the teeth involves a slight reshaping by a dentist. This can be done to eliminate small chips, improve old bonding, and enhance the overall appearance of slightly crowded teeth.

Usually, no local anesthesia is necessary. If contouring is done sparingly, no post procedural sensitivity to the teeth should result. As a general rule, it is a good idea to avoid chewing hard objects such as ice and toothpicks. Not only do these activities cause chipping, they can also ruin the work of even the best restorative dentist. Finally, as with any treatment, it is important to ask your restorative dentist or prosthodontist about the limitations of treatment.

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