Health is first, last, everything
The first step to improving your smile is to ensure that your teeth and gums are healthy.
A very thorough cleaning by our hygienist, Rosanna (Rosie) Hosker-Thornhill and then maintaining the result with immaculate brushing and flossing at home – on a daily basis using a fluoride toothpaste – and being careful of the frequency of sugar in your diet will allow you to keep your teeth healthy for the rest of your life.
Healthy teeth and gums look… well…. healthy!
However, if this still not enough then there are conservative ways of improving your smile as below.
Aesthetic consultation and smile design
A thorough analysis of your smile using photographs and measurement tools is the first step to deciding what is required to improve your smile.
Digital imaging coupled with detailed discussions can ensure that we really get a good idea of what improvements you require before we embark upon any treatment.
Tooth whitening – simple, safe and effective
Tooth whitening using proprietary dental whitening products has been carried out for years to predictably improve the brightness of your teeth without damaging them.
Stain and patch removal with ICON advanced resin infiltration techniques
The optical properties of teeth can be changed by resin infiltration and microabrasion. These techniques are conservative and effective ways of treating teeth with irregular light or dark patches.
Please book a consultation with our resident expert in this technique, Dr Shiraz Khan
Align, bleach and bond
ALIGN. If your teeth are not straight, then we are able to align them.
This can also improve an irregular gum line which is reflected by the positions of the teeth.
It is always better to spend time to move healthy, natural teeth rather than have them irreparably damaged by trying to reshape them with veneers and crowns. These treatments have their place, but not on healthy teeth as far as we can avoid!
BLEACH. Dental bleaching (or dental whitening, as we prefer to call it), is the use of approved products to whiten teeth at home.
Tooth whitening is a safe and predictable way of lightening the colour of your teeth naturally. You can stop or top up at any time.
BOND. It is possible to improve the shapes of the teeth by simply bonding tooth coloured filling material to the deficient or worn surfaces and polishing them to a lustre.
The combinations of aligning, bleaching and bonding on healthy teeth can be a very conservative and effective way of improving your smile without invasive dental work.
Invisalign
Invisalign can help to treat a variety of orthodontic complaints including teeth which are crooked, crowded or have gaps between them. Invisalign appliances are clear, removable and comfortable, and they will not interfere with your life. Because it’s nearly invisible no-one can tell you are wearing Invisalign, so you can smile more during, as well as after, your treatment.
Dr Shiraz Khan is certified to provide the Invisalign system and has treated many patients with excellent results.
Photography, video and digital scanning
We take multiple photographs, video and intraoral optical digital scanning to assess your smile both in pictures and during function.
We will analyse, using various tools, exactly what it is about your smile that requires improving. This may not be just the teeth themselves but also their relative positions, how much you show when you smile, the tone of your lips, how much gum or tooth you show when smiling, laughing and talking and a multitude of biometric measurements that will reveal exactly what is not correct.
We can then discuss with you exactly what it is you would like to change and how this might be possible in the most conservative way.
We also work closely with our LCIAD Face colleague, Dr Milvia di Gioia, who is responsible for our non-surgical facial aesthetics treatment which may complement improving your dental appearance.
Smile design, assessment and planning
We can design the ideal tooth shapes outside the mouth either on models of your teeth or digitally. We will make templates and mock-ups that can be tried on over your existing teeth to see the effect that might be achieved before we undertake any treatment.
We would normally want to make the most of tooth alignment and whitening first. Accurate mock-ups of your final tooth shapes that can be made before any treatment is carried out also help us to limit damage to your natural teeth whilst we improve your overall smile.
Smile design and improvement can be time-consuming so please think ahead if you want to look good for your wedding!