A bad smile can have devastating effects on your self-worth and wellbeing. If you feel your smile isn’t at your best, then you won’t smile as much. And if you don’t smile as much it will cause you to have feelings of depression and isolation, making you smile less. And so, the cycle continues.
If you’re hiding from cameras and learning to laugh with your mouth closed, there are treatments available from teeth whitening London to restore your smile in more ways than one.
Why it’s important
Your smile is the thing that everyone notices about you. Even with crooked, yellow, or missing teeth, it will light up a room. But if you can’t see the beauty in your smile, you might be trying to hide it. It’s understandable but unnecessary and in turn can affect your mental health.
Teeth which are damaged, decayed or missing can be the sign of a health problem but also a cosmetic issue. If they are bad enough, they can make you feel inadequate, leading to feelings of depression and isolation. You can withdraw from other people and activities because you think people would judge you based on your teeth.
So, what can a dentist do about it? Well, it depends on what you don’t like about your teeth. Turns out there are a lot of options offered by dentists like Pure Dentistry.
Tooth loss
Losing a tooth, whether it be from tooth decay, periodontal disease, or an injury, affects around 178 million people in the US, according to the American College of Prosthodontists.
According to Marylebone Smile Clinic cosmetic dentists from London 66th Harley Street, it is equally important to fix your teeth for long term.
In the past, a bridge or denture was used to place a false tooth in the space left by your lost tooth, but they have problems shifting around in the mouth, further distressing patients with eating problems and slurring and mumbling speech if they aren’t fitted well. Dentures, in particular, are temporary replacements that need to be replaced and removed to eat or sleep.
Today, dental implants Kent are offered as a way to solve the practical problems of losing a tooth and the cosmetic. Your dentist will implant a small titanium rod directly into the socket left by your tooth for your jawbone to heal and grow around, forming a solid basis for a crown to be attached to. Your new dental crown will act just like any other tooth, solving your speech and eating problems and offering a permanent solution.
Straightening
Living with crowded, crooked, or protruding teeth can affect your self-worth, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are great advancements in orthodontics in reading that have made the best teeth straightening in the UK easy and aren’t nearly as horrifying as the school kids would have you believe.
Easily the biggest advantage is that they are now available to adults. So, if you turned down braces as a naïve child or the option was never brought up, there is still time to straighten out your pearly whites. See Dr Soha’s website for braces for children.
Traditional braces are made up of metal brackets, each glued to each of your teeth and held in place with wire. But other options mean your smile won’t set off airport security. But, like many people across the country lately, you should embrace the newest form of braces. Invisible, removable, comfortable: the clear aligner.
Clear aligners have dropped all the metal for a transparent plastic moulded around the shape of your teeth that no one will see. They are removable so that you can eat, sleep, or drink if you wish. You can decide to wear it all day for a shorter number of months or stick to wearing it at night for a longer period to get the effect you want.
Whitening
Your smile should shine as bright as you do, but for various reasons like red wine, coffee, tea, smoking, age, and genetics, you’ll be lucky if that’s the case.
Home remedies like baking soda and apple cider vinegar are available online to keep your smile bright and on the shelf products that contain whitening products like activated charcoal. If you aren’t satisfied with the whiteness of your smile, the most effective way of improving your teeth is by visiting the dentist, and it might not cost what you think.
Make an appointment with your hygienist, and they will have your teeth looking whiter with a routine cleaning that will get rid of plaque and any surface stains that may be yellowing your teeth. You’d be surprised what a difference the simple act can make.
If you are still not satisfied, you can look into getting your teeth professionally whitened. Your dentist will guard your mouth before painting your teeth with a bleach solution. They will then shine a light into your mouth, activating the solution and allowing it to develop over 15 minutes.
