Say Cheese! Bigger and Brighter Smiles Are the Key to a Happier You

If the eyes are the windows to the soul, the smile could be the door to restoring health and youth. The smile reveals your personality and character. When teeth are in good condition and look polished (not necessarily perfect), they can say a lot about a person’s lifestyle. 

Yet, over time, our aligned teeth can push out of place. Staining develops from years of morning coffee or an evening glass of red wine. Some of us naturally have darker pigmentation in teeth because of simple aging or tetracycline staining. 

There are relatively simple, in-office cosmetic dentistry solutions that can refresh the smile and take years off your appearance. 

“Having a really nice, bright white smile is a pretty noninvasive way to appear much more youthful without doing a lot of treatments,” says Dr. Barjesh Bath-Walters of Advanced Dental Care & Aesthetics in North Olmsted.  

The smile impacts how the lips and cheeks look, says Dr. John Heimke of the Facial Aesthetic Designers in Rocky River. “The way we shape teeth can accentuate the face and maybe make the lip fuller or support the face — almost like a subtle face-lift,” he says. “If you make the teeth beautiful, you can accomplish lots of goals.”  

Imagining a Better Smile 

Advanced techniques are helping dentists create better, faster results no matter what the patient’s goals.

With Digital Smile Design, for example, dentists can now simulate the results of any procedure using live video, photographs and computer software. 

“We can design and enhance a smile based on a person’s face,” explains Heimke, an accredited DSD Master. “We are able to design the teeth in proper balance and symmetry so it fits a person’s face.” 

More than basic imaging that reveals a before and after, the technique uses video and captures the face and mouth in a natural state. Then, the software guides the dentist in selecting the right frame for the procedures by creating an accurate simulation of the hard and soft facial structures. From there, a printed 3-D model of the new smile is created and material is applied to the teeth. With a 43-inch TV in the office, patients can see their before and after (with the material applied) within about 10 minutes.

“They can visualize very nicely what their [new mouth] will look like from a social distance, which is how most people view each other,” says Heimke. 

Indeed, imaging technology has drastically improved the planning of aesthetic dental procedures.

What once involved messy molds used for making impressions of the teeth and mouth, now can be accomplished with 3-D optical scanning to take visual impressions of the teeth.

“There’s no goop or mess,” says Dr. Matthew Messina of Fairview Park. 

The advent of 3-D models means a single crown or porcelain fillings can be created on the spot. “We can often do it all in one visit so patients do not have to have a temporary in place for a couple of weeks,” says Messina. “That is a big win.”

Brighter, Better Whites

Whether you’re seeking a paper white smile or simply want to reduce staining, there’s a whitening process to achieve your goals. 

Bath-Walters recommends KöR whitening systems, which range from in-home day or nighttime gel kits to a solution for tough cases of tetracycline staining. The popular KöR Max involves two weeks of at-home whitening with trays using a 16 percent carbamide peroxide solution prior to an in-office procedure. “The results are incredible,” says Bath-Walters.

Kept constantly refrigerated from the moment of manufacturing to retain its potency, KöR can brighten teeth up to 15 shades whiter than a person’s original color, says Dr. Niki Cochran. “Before, there was never anything out there that gave that much of a boost,” she says. “So it’s definitely one of my favorite new products.”

Many dentists also recommend Zoom whitening. Usually involving a one hour in-office visit, Zoom can make teeth six to nine times whiter. “This generally lasts two to three years,” says Cochran. 

Yet, whitening issues may run deeper than the surface of the teeth. Messina notes that before any whitening procedure, it’s important to ensure the mouth is healthy.

“We have to diagnose in advance why we have a whiteness issue to make sure there is no decay, periodontal disease or failed fillings that would cause discoloration,” he says. “We fix that first, and then we can do the whitening in conjunction with other dentistry.”

Messina explains that tooth enamels are similar to the structure of crystal. “If you look at them in a microscope, they look like chicken wire,” he relates. “Over time, we pick up color and stain. Whitening products ‘bubble’ the color out of the enamel matrix.”

A Great Grin

Adults with a tooth or two that have pushed out of position now have options beyond a mouth full of braces. 

“It’s easier today to say, ‘I can fix that,’ ” says Messina, who uses aligners to straighten a single tooth or few. 

Part of a technology called “adult limited orthodontics,” Invisalign uses computer manufactured modeling and clear aligners that fit over the teeth, Messina says. 

The clear Invisalign retainers are actually made from a material initially created by NASA. “It’s a very thin, clear plastic that is much more flexible than a whitening tray,” Bath-Walters describes. “If you are wearing one, you could be speaking at a lunch or board meeting with clients and it would be almost invisible.”

Invisalign is ideal for correcting spacing issues or putting teeth back in the right position, Bath-Walters says. 

“Clients like the flexibility,” she says. “If they do have a one-hour meeting and don’t want anything on their teeth, they can take it out.” 

Otherwise the Invisalign device is worn continuously except while eating. Every two weeks, you get a new set of aligners and the entire process can take six to eight months (sometimes longer). 

Bath-Walters likes Invisalign as a conservative alternative to reshaping the mouth with veneers. “If you love the shape and size of your teeth but you have crowding or spaces that you don’t love, the ideal thing is to put the teeth where they belong,” she says. “That way, you are not cutting down perfectly good teeth for veneers or crowns.”

While Invisalign does not offer the immediate gratification of veneers, the results are basically permanent. “For people who are younger, they can anticipate redoing veneers several times in their life,” Bath-Walters points out. 

That said, today’s veneers are made from stronger materials that provide a longer life. “In the last five years, the strength of the porcelains we use in crowns and veneers [has increased],” she says. 

And, Bath-Walters notes, crowns that are done well don’t look like crowns. By using custom shading, they should blend perfectly with other teeth. 

Yet, no matter the method, when the smile is improved and in its best possible shape, people tend to take better care of their teeth, Messina points out. “Form and function do relate,” he says. 

“When people get a nice, new car they tend to keep it clean and take care of it because they are proud,” he continues. “With someone’s smile, if they are proud of their teeth and what they have done to get them [in good shape], they will commit to brushing, flossing and the maintenance to stay healthy. And ultimately, that’s what we are going for.”