Cosmetic Dentistry

I don’t care if you’re a man, woman, teenager, adult or older -- Nothing affects “your looks” as much as your smile.  Just think about the hit ABC show, “Extreme Makeovers”.  You’ve seen all the changes in these people, and most feel that the BIGGEST change – the BIGGEST improvement – in the looks of many of them has been their smiles.

A smile not only affects your attractiveness, but how others, including your employers and clients think of you.

The field of cosmetic dentistry is HUGE these days, and the number of applications are amazing.  Teeth can be whitened, reshaped, covered with various cosmetic veneers, fillings can be tooth colored.  Excess tissue can be removed from gums with plastic surgery or gums added where there is not enough gum tissue.  Teeth can be straightened in a matter of days.  Gaps can be eliminated often in one visit.  And the ease which all of these things can be accomplished is amazing.

When cosmetic dentistry is mentioned, most people think of bonded porcelain veneers and bonded porcelain jackets.  A veneer covers the outer side of a tooth, and a jacket covers the entire tooth. When these cosmetic porcelain restorations are utilized properly, it’s nearly impossible to tell them apart from natural teeth.  I was one of the originators of the bonded porcelain jacket back in the later 1980’s.

Several years ago dentists found they could achieve better cosmetic results by drilling more aggressively on the teeth, giving more room for the porcelain.  This always bothered me tremendously.  I really dislike the thought of drilling so much on a healthy tooth unless I really have to.

Recently there have been some fantastic advancements in porcelains, and other advancements that now allow me to very often place gorgeous, absolutely natural-looking porcelain veneers without much shaping of the teeth with the drill, and in some cases, no shaping of the teeth whatsoever.   These special porcelain veneers can be made contact lens thin.   It really is amazing.  I have lectured on this technique nationally, and have addressed this topic in one of the books I have written.

This means that in a number of cosmetic cases utilizing porcelain veneers, my patients don’t even need to be numb.  Let’s take a look at just a few typical porcelain veneer and porcelain jacket cases that I have done. 

Below you see a case of typical spaces between the teeth.

The next patient, a young teenager, had just finished having orthodontics. She was dissatisfied with the results, and so was her mom.  There was an important event coming up – a school dance – and they both wanted her to have a killer smile in time for the big event.

First we whitened her teeth. Since she was showing too much gums (not enough of the teeth),we performed a cosmetic “gum lift” with a laser. You can see the results for yourself.  Next, with nearly no drilling, we placed beautiful lifelike ultra-thin porcelain veneers (her two front teeth did not need veneers).  You talk about a smile that makes everyone around her smile!  She and her mom loved the results, and they told us she constantly receives amazing compliments.

Being “up there” in years doesn’t mean having to be “old”.  I learned that from this patient. He had watched the television program Extreme Makeovers and decided that he wanted to look as young as he felt.  Someone recommended that he see me for his cosmetic makeover.  Just take a look at the results.  He says that he gets comments on his smile everywhere he goes, and that people who knew him before the makeover constantly comment on how natural his beautiful porcelain veneers look.

This famous athlete decided he’d had enough of the jokes about his smile.  He played in three Super Bowls after I changed his smile, and each time I kept yelling at the TV screen, “SMILE and show everyone your beautiful teeth”.  But he never did smile on camera.  So one time I asked him why he never broke a smile during a game.  As huge as he is – he’s the nicest and most mild-mannered guy ever.  So he turned to me, looking down on me, and said in a mild voice, “Well Dr. Kurthy, ya see, during a game we really can’t smile…’cause we’ve (now in a very scary aggressive voice and look) GOT TO LOOK MEAN!!’  Wow, I felt like running away down the hall!!  Glad I don’t have to line up against him!  YIKES!

The following patient was simply terrified of going to the dentist.  At her first visit, she stood outside my door for 45 minutes before building the courage to even walk in.  Tooth decay had ravaged her teeth.  She had a family reunion to attend, so we quickly cosmetically restored her upper four front teeth. We restored the function and health to these teeth, and also enhanced the shape and size of the teeth.

This patient had been concerned about the protrusion of her front teeth (how far they stuck out) for her entire life. She also did not like the lack of evenness of her teeth. We were able to bring her teeth back significantly, create exactly the color she wanted, and give her a smile that she gets compliments on constantly.

The next patient came to us after having gum surgery. You can see the amount of gum loss. With laser treatment of her gums, we could have probably prevented the need for this surgery and deformation of her gums. She was unhappy with the appearance of her smile, the shape of her teeth, and the significant spaces between her teeth. We changed the contours of her teeth and eliminated the spaces.

This case involved Deep Bleaching™ and porcelain on the upper front four teeth. What an amazing transformation!

This patient has a naturally wide smile and shows a lot of teeth.  Having worn and cracked teeth was very noticeable.  Now with a much whiter and perfect smile, he loves to show it off.

This patient had veneers she was dissatisfied with.  We were able to create exactly the smile she wanted. 

This patient had just finished having orthodontics.  Even orthodontics could not totally give him the smile he wanted, simply because his front teeth were naturally under-sized and poorly shaped. 

You’ve now seen how amazingly life-like these porcelain veneers and porcelain jackets are.  This patient was hit in the mouth with a baseball and broke three of the upper front teeth.  See if you can easily tell which three upper front teeth are porcelain.