A variety of factors can cause your teeth to become dark and dingy. Smoking or chewing tobacco, drinking wine, coffee or tea, eating pigment intense foods, too much fluoride, or trauma to the tooth can all cause your teeth to discolor and lose their shine. The good news is dentistry offers several options to return your teeth to their natural whiteness:
- Professional teeth whitening can be completed in as little as one office visit and can lighten your teeth as much as ten shades. This type of whitening mainly treats surface stains and can last several years with careful maintenance.
- Dental veneers are a better option for teeth with internal stains that are resistant to professional whitening. The placement of veneers involves roughing up the surface of the tooth and then applying an extremely thin porcelain or composite veneer that bonds to the surface of the tooth. With care, dental veneers can last as long as ten years.
- For individual teeth that have changed color due to damage or trauma, composite bonding is an excellent option. This procedure involves the use of a tooth-colored bonding material to cover the surface of the tooth and match it to the color of the surrounding teeth.
If you suffer from a dark or discolored smile and want to restore it to bright and white, dentistry may be the answer to your concerns. Schedule a consultation with a qualified dentist to find out which treatments would best suit your needs and allow you to once again face the world with a beautiful, white smile.
If you live in the Toronto area contact us today
Special occasions like class reunions and weddings where photos are going to be taken are important. You will want to look your best, especially when you look back on the photos in years to come. When you look in your mirror, are you noticing that your smile seems less than its best? Could your look use some refreshing?
As time passes, our smiles age. Whether you realize it or not, your teeth are discoloring a little bit every day. Discoloration can come from the food we consume, such as blueberries, beets, blackberries, balsamic vinegar or soy sauce. Drinking tea, red wine, coffee or dark soda can also affect the brightness of your smile. Smoking leaves teeth looking yellow and dingy.
As well as discoloring, our teeth slowly wear away. The outer, whiter layer of enamel will thin with age, revealing the yellower layer of dentin underneath. The length of a tooth is also reduced with age as teeth wear away with natural, everyday use. Short, discolored teeth send a signal of old age whether we intend them to or not.
Composite bonding, porcelain or composite resin veneers and dental crowns can help you achieve a brighter, whiter, more even smile. Veneers can even correct gaps and hide chipped or malformed teeth. Dental implants can be an excellent solution to a missing tooth. A smile that is badly misaligned might require braces or some other kind of orthodontia to achieve optimal results.
Your dentist can work with you to determine what steps should be taken to address your particular smile concerns and rejuvenate your smile, making you look younger and more refreshed. You will begin to see the positive responses from people who will be able to see you at your youthful best, allowing you to be your most confident, most comfortable self. The changes you make now can change your smile for years to come.
If you live in the Toronto area contact us today
Using a 3D camera and CAD/CAM technology, CEREC creates dental restorations in one office visit instead of multiple trips or temporary fittings. Crowns, veneers, inlays and onlays are made out of ceramic and fits perfectly to renew your smile. So what does this new technology mean to you as a patient?
No impressions
There is no need for trays filled with messy material used to make impressions of your mouth. In the past, this unpleasant process was required for creating restorations but CEREC uses a 3D camera instead. The camera scans your prepared tooth in just a few seconds and sends the data to a specialized computer to design your restoration.
No temporary fittings
Because CEREC restorations are created in a milling machine right there in your dentist’s office, the need for temporary restorations is eliminated. The machine quickly makes your fitting from a solid ceramic block, so the final product is ready to be placed in your mouth immediately instead of wearing an ill-fitting temporary while you wait for your real restoration to be developed in a dental lab.
No waiting
Only one appointment at your dentist means you don’t have to spend extensive time in the waiting room or dental chair, or driving back and forth to multiple appointments.
No metal
Made completely from ceramic, CEREC restorations do not contain any metal. They are biocompatible and tooth-colored, matched to the exact shade you and your dentist choose together, giving you the most appealing look possible in your smile.
No wearing out
CEREC restorations are durable and long-lasting. Studies show that they are at least as durable as gold restorations, which are known to have a long lifespan. Your smile can be healthy and appealing for many years to come as a result of CEREC technology.
We treat patients from Toronto and the surrounding area
Traditional crowns have been around for many years in dentistry, but CEREC technology is newer to the field. CEREC, or ceramic reconstruction, provides a perfectly fitting and attractive crown in only one visit to the dentist. In just a few hours, you can get your crown from start to finish and be able to enjoy your fully restored smile right away.
If you aren’t convinced yet, here are some reasons to consider using CEREC for your next dental crown:
- Time – Crowns made the traditional way take at least two appointments, and usually require wearing a temporary crown while the final one is made in a lab. CEREC crowns are made in a single appointment and the final restoration is placed the same day, so patients save time making only one trip to the dentist.
- No temporary crowns – CEREC completely eliminates the requirement for temporary crowns.
- Materials – CEREC crowns are made of ceramic, so there are no metals used that might bother patients with allergies.
- Anesthesia – fewer office visits means fewer shots or other types of anesthesia requirements.
- Less tooth impacts – CEREC and its high quality camera images calls for less drilling on your natural tooth than other types of crowns.
- Fewer gaps – CEREC crowns have smaller gaps between the teeth than other crowns. This allows the CEREC crown to fit more closely to the gums and result in fewer crown failures.
- Dentist control – your dentist has full control over the process and shapes your crown right in the office instead of sending the work out to a lab.
- Cost savings – CEREC crowns usually cost about the same as traditional crowns, but cost savings are incurred by spending less gas driving to multiple appointments, not missing as much work, and fewer expenses like child care.
If you need to correct a damaged tooth with a crown, a dentist qualified to use CEREC technology can make your smile look great in a shorter amount of time and with less hassles.
We look forward to seeing you in our Toronto dental office
More and more people are hearing about CEREC, or ceramic reconstruction, and asking their dentists about this exciting technology. It opens up a whole new way of getting restorations such as dental crowns in a much faster and more convenient method. Instead of having multiple appointments and a temporary crown, patients are able to obtain a perfectly fitting restoration in a single trip to the dentist.
CEREC incorporates advancements in technology in order to serve patients better. A high quality camera is used to take 3D photos that provide very specific measurements of the teeth and mouth. This negates the need for traditional impressions of the mouth. The data is then transferred to a computer with CAD software. It creates an exact design for the restoration, and then the information goes to a milling machine for the final product to be created out of ceramic. These technologies work together seamlessly to provide the patient with a perfect restoration to meet their specific requirements.
Perhaps the most appealing aspect about CEREC to patients is that the process takes only one appointment start to finish. Traditional crown methods could require up to a month for patients to receive their final fitting, making the need for a temporary crown while the permanent one is made. Temporary crowns don’t always fit well, can loosen or slip, and may make for an uncomfortable few weeks. CEREC’s advantage of completing everything in one day saves patients time, anxiety, and discomfort.
Patients also are thrilled with the perfect fit that CEREC crowns provide. The highly accurate technology allows the crown to be exactly what each patient needs for their restoration. There are fewer occurrences of loss or other problems in the future with CEREC, and the ceramic material used closely resemble your natural tooth’s appearance and feel.
More and more dentists are moving to CEREC technology because of the quality of the procedure and high degree of patient satisfaction. Saving a natural tooth is more enticing to patients when the process is as simple as it is with CEREC.
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Certain types of dental restorations have a history of taking multiple steps over a period of time to complete. This has commonly been the case for crowns, inlays, onlays, some veneers and more. Advancements in dentistry have achieved the ability of providing these in a single office visit using CAD/CAM technology.
CAD (Computer Aided Design) and CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) are used in many fields, but were introduced into dentistry in the 1980s. However, experts needed time to improve the technology so that it could be used in actual dental practices. It has now become a reality in helping to create durable, perfectly fitting, and aesthetically pleasing restorations in just a few hours.
This technology begins by taking an image of the tooth and affected area within the mouth. The image is used by the software to develop a virtual restoration, and the data is sent to a milling machine. The milling process allows the CAD/CAM technology to fabricate dental restorations from blocks of porcelain or composite resin. Dentists can even select the exact shade for the restoration so that it looks ideal in the patient’s smile. Once the restoration has been created, the dentist places it in the patient’s mouth and bonds it as necessary to complete the process.
One of the greatest benefits of CAD/CAM technology is that it eliminates the need for a temporary restoration. For example, in past procedures for getting a crown, a temporary crown had to be placed while the final one was fabricated in a dental lab, shipped, and finally placed. Receiving the final restoration in one office visit skips that waiting time. Also, patients don’t have to deal with the hassles of multiple appointments. Another advantage is that CAD/CAM technology provides an exact fit that blends well with the real tooth structure. Patients come away with a comfortable, secure, and attractive smile in one day.
Schedule your appointment at our Toronto dental office