What is cosmetic dentistry

Cosmetic dentistry is about more than just repairing damage done to your teeth through time, lifestyle, or diet - it's about making your smile a reflection of what you feel inside. Whether you're looking for restorative cosmetic dental work or an elective procedure to gain more confidence in your smile, the result can be a boost to your physical and emotional health.

Do you need a cosmetic dentist?

Have you ever wanted to change your smile? If the thought has occasionally crossed your mind when you looked in the mirror, a consultation with a cosmetic dentist might be just the thing for you. Because most dental practices focus only on what you need at the time of your appointment, you're not likely to hear a traditional dentist ask you if there's something about your smile you'd like to change. The cosmetic dentist will ask. And the cosmetic dentist will listen and take notes as you describe the smile you've always wanted. More importantly, the cosmetic dentist will bring skills and techniques that are only taught in the most advanced courses in dentistry to address your particular situation.

Book a FREE consultation with our dentist to address any concerns that you may have had in the past if you have ever thought about cosmetic dentistry. Please note that this will not include a dental check up.

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Designing your smile

When looking at a smile certain basic principles need to be incorporated for it to look natural. We can only give you a brief idea of the parameters that need to be considered here, we will always discuss these with you if you come to see us

1. The Horizontal Line

Ideally the line of your smile is a parallel line to the horizontal, this is the aim even if as is very common the eye line is not on the same horizontal line.

2. The Smile Line

This is the line joining the edges of your teeth. If you imagine a line running from your canine teeth touching the edges of your front incisor teeth, then this line should follow the curve of your lower lip. If the line of the top teeth is flat, it can give the appearance of worn teeth or old teeth. Have a look at the covers of some glossy magazines to see what we mean.

3. Smile Width

Teeth have a natural shape running from the front to back, narrow smiles create shadows on back teeth, a smile width can be made to look wider often by the simple addition of porcelain veneers to the premolar teeth.

4. Spaces

These are a natural feature of teeth, and are seen as the black spaces between our teeth. Sometimes these can look wider through ago or gum disease, but in general are smallest between the front teeth and get gradually bigger towards the back teeth

5. Proportions and Shape

Scientific principles state that teeth in an ideal case have a ratio of size and shape to each other, when considering the top six front teeth. They are considered to have a ratio of 1.6:1.0:0.6 in width, whereas in height the ideal width to height ratio is 0.7:1  These are only a rough guide and a starting point when we consider a smile. As you may expect teeth differ greatly and these ratios are not always attainable.