What makes a radiant smile? Nice full lips? Clean and straight teeth? While all those things contribute, we think the most important factor in a good smile is actually confidence.
But sometimes, it’s hard to feel confident in your pearly whites if they aren’t…pearly. Other factors like chips and misaligned teeth may also deter you from grinning from ear to ear.
At Dogwood Dental Spa, our services for cosmetic dentistry in Waxhaw help to enhance the appearance of your teeth and improve your smile.
We create natural-looking results through personalized treatments, because no 2 smiles are the same. Your smile reflects your unique personality, and we want you to confidently share that individuality with the world. To learn more about cosmetic dentistry, and what we offer at Dogwood Dental Spa, continue reading.
What is cosmetic dentistry?
Don’t let the name “cosmetic dentistry” fool you. Of course, this category of care enhances the appearance of your teeth through procedures that whiten, straighten, or conceal dental flaws—all concerns you deserve care for.
However, the benefits of these services extend beyond just enhancing the appearance of your teeth. Cosmetic dentistry adjustments can also allow for easier cleaning, a better bite, and improved oral health.
Choosing Your Treatment: Consultation
Before we build a plan for the best treatment option for you, we start with an in-depth consultation. During this conversation, we discuss any concerns you have about your smile. We also evaluate your teeth and then tailor a treatment plan to match your unique needs.
Depending on your concerns, we may recommend teeth whitening, veneers, tooth replacements, or clear aligners for your cosmetic dentistry in Waxhaw.
Teeth Whitening
You love to start the day with a cup of coffee and end it with a glass of red wine or tea. Our team does too, so we aren’t here to judge! Unfortunately, some of life’s little pleasures, like your favorite dark-colored foods and drinks, can stain your teeth over time.
Teeth whitening removes these superficial stains using medical-grade ingredients that whiten and brighten the color of your teeth. At Dogwood Dental, we offer 1-hour in-office whitening treatments that are non-invasive and pain-free.
Maintain Your Results With Dental Trays
We also offer a teeth whitening treatment that allows you to whiten your teeth outside of the office after your appointment.
If you choose this option, we create clear trays fitted to your teeth and provide teeth whitening gel so you can maintain your results at home. We recommend limiting this treatment to 3 times a week—or fewer—so your teeth don’t become too sensitive.
Clear Aligners for Straighter Teeth
Crooked or crowded teeth can leave you feeling self-conscious and hiding your smile. What’s worse, they can also make it harder for you to floss and maintain proper oral hygiene.
Clear aligners gradually straighten teeth over time by applying gentle pressure that shifts teeth into place. This option for cosmetic dentistry in Waxhaw takes anywhere between 4 to 12 months.
The Process for Clear Aligners
Clear aligners have a more involved process than teeth whitening. During your consultation, we walk you through your personalized treatment plan for achieving straighter teeth.
We start with a 3D scan of your teeth to send to the manufacturers, who then design custom trays for you. Once we receive your trays, you return to the office for a fitting in case we need to adjust them.
In some cases, this process includes interproximal reduction (IPR)—removing enamel between teeth to accommodate your aligners.
For other patients, we may also place enamel-colored buttons on your teeth. Acting as little handles, these attachments allow the aligners to grip your teeth more easily and apply extra, gentle force. You may need buttons if one or more of your teeth need significant movement.
Related Reading: The Benefits of Clear Aligners
New Trays Every Week
You take home 4 trays per month and replace them weekly, so each aligner can accommodate your newly shifted teeth and continue adjusting them gradually. You should wear your aligners for 22 hours a day and only remove them when eating, drinking, flossing, and brushing your teeth.
We also offer FLEX aligners for those who want to improve their smile, but can’t commit to full-day wear due to work or scheduling conflicts – these trays require 9-12 hours of wear per day.
Monthly Check-Ins With Dogwood Dental
You return to our office monthly to track your progress for clear aligners. We answer any questions you have regarding this treatment for cosmetic dentistry in Waxhaw and send you home with 4 new sets of trays after each visit.
Second-Week Check-ins with OrthoFX
We work with OrthoFX, a clear aligner company with FDA approval for straightening, whitening, and improving your teeth. Not only does OrthoFX make comfortable and efficient products, they also provide you with extra support throughout this process by using virtual check-ins to track your progress.
Following the placement of your second monthly tray, send photos of your teeth and aligners to OrthoFX. This allows the company to track your progress and catch any issues if your teeth aren’t responding to the new set of trays.
Identifying any issues this early on prevents delays in the teeth straightening process. In case of concerns with your progress, OrthoFX will send rescue aligners directly to your home for your convenience and to get you back on track sooner.
Refinements and Whitening
At the end of your treatments, we can refine and tweak your results with additional aligners if you still have concerns about your teeth.
Clear aligners can also serve as whitening trays, making them a 2-for-1 treatment for cosmetic dentistry in Waxhaw. If you want to whiten your teeth simultaneously, you can purchase the whitening gel and apply it to your trays for an enhanced smile.
Veneers
Veneers conceal cracks, chips, gaps, and stains on your teeth. They can also improve the appearance of teeth that are too small or misshapen. Just like you might use concealer to cover a blemish on your face, veneers cover blemishes on your teeth—only more long term.
Veneers often get mistaken for dental crowns, which makes sense: they both cover and improve your teeth. However, veneers only cover the front surface of your teeth for cosmetic purposes. Dental crowns cover the entire tooth for restoration and support.
The Veneers Process
The process for Veneers involves a few steps.
Smile Design Appointment
During your initial appointment, we take measurements, impressions, and photographs of your teeth. This step allows us to make custom zirconia-porcelain veneers. Zirconia is a strong material that reduces the risk of chipping. We cover the zirconia with a porcelain layer that matches your enamel color to provide you with natural-looking tooth enhancements.
Modifications to Teeth and Temporary Veneers
After your initial consultation for cosmetic dentistry in Waxhaw, you return to our office so we can modify your teeth. For this appointment, we start by numbing the treatment area, so you can stay comfortable. To make sure your veneers fit perfectly into your mouth, we remove small amounts of enamel.
After we’ve modified your teeth, we leave in temporary veneers while we wait for your custom veneers to finish. Because we’ve removed some of your enamel, we place the temporary veneers to protect against potential harm and eliminate tooth sensitivity from temperature changes. Think of the temporary veneers as a test run; they also help you adjust to the feel and bite of veneers before the permanent ones are fitted.
Veneer Placements
For your veneer placement, we first have you try your lab-made veneers on. Before we cement them in place, you have the opportunity to voice any concerns regarding the size, shape, or color of the veneers. We can send them back into the lab for further customization. Once you feel happy with the veneers, we permanently bond them into place using dental cement.
You should leave this final appointment with more confidence in your teeth and a more radiant smile.
Teeth Replacement
When you were young, it was cute to have a few missing teeth. It just meant you got a visit from the tooth fairy, and a new, permanent tooth would soon fill that space.
As an adult, you may feel less proud of a smile with missing teeth. Fortunately, cosmetic dentistry in Waxhaw offers 3 solutions for restoring your grin. Not only do these enhance your appearance, they also restore chewing function and improve oral health by preventing bone loss, gum disease, and damage to remaining teeth.
Bridges
A dental bridge can replace 1 individual tooth or a row of missing teeth. This treatment doesn’t require surgery, and usually, the process lasts 2 to 3 weeks from start to finish. During your consultation, we assess your neighboring teeth to make sure they have the strength to act as anchors for the bridges to fit over.
Dentures
At Dogwood Dental, we offer a variety of removable or permanent dentures to replace missing teeth. We design full, partial, and implanted dentures customized to your unique facial and tooth anatomy. Before this treatment, we only need to take impressions and measurements of your mouth to guarantee that these oral appliances fit properly and comfortably.
Implants
Artificial teeth from dental implants can improve both your appearance and oral health by closely mimicking your natural teeth. A titanium post is surgically implanted into the jawbone to fuse with it and prevent jawbone loss. We use crowns, dentures, or bridges attached to the post to restore your smile, filling the missing space with a natural-looking replacement.
Am I a candidate for cosmetic dentistry?
Almost everyone makes a good candidate for these safe, effective procedures. If you have concerns about the appearance of your teeth, we can work with you to find the best treatment options to improve your smile.
Who is not a candidate for cosmetic dentistry?
As we said, almost everyone is a candidate. However, for some patients, we may have to take some pre-treatment steps and perform general or surgical dentistry first to restore tooth and gum health.
These steps are necessary if you have cavities, gum disease, bruxism (teeth grinding), or a variety of other oral health issues. Cosmetic dentistry requires a solid, healthy foundation before we can improve the appearance of the surface.
Smile Brighter at Dogwood Dental
Cosmetic dentistry in Waxhaw can transform a soft smile into a radiant grin. It all starts with a consultation to discuss your concerns. After making sure your teeth and gums are healthy, we can personalize a treatment to improve your already beautiful smile.
To get started, try our treatment planning tool, where you can share specific areas of concern and get an individual care recommendation. Alternatively, you can request a consultation to speak with us face-to-face.
