Fixing your smile: everything you need to know about tooth contouring
Although people may not like to admit it, physical appearance often plays a big part in shaping your self esteem and how good you feel about yourself generally. While loving yourself for who you are, all flaws included, is an important component of living a healthy and fulfilling life, often times minor changes to the way you look can inject you with a great deal of confidence and energy to tackle the challenges of your daily life. With this in mind, few things can make you feel as content and self-assured as a fresh and attractive smile. For this reason, many Australians choose to undergo small cosmetic dental procedures to fix up their teeth or facial structure. One such procedure is called tooth reshaping or tooth contouring.
What is tooth contouring?
Whether it's the result of tooth decay due to a lack of oral care, a freak accident on the sports field, or just unlucky genetics, some people find that they have teeth that are crooked, misaligned, chipped, fractured or too big or too small when compared to the rest of their pearly companions. While braces are a common solution for these irregularities, especially for young people who have the opportunity to mould their teeth while they're still growing, tooth contouring is a comparatively extremely simple and affordable procedure that can help. It involves improving your tooth's aesthetic quality by trimming and restructuring parts of its tooth enamel.
How does it work?
Depending on how many teeth you want altered, tooth contouring procedures can take anywhere from a single hour long session to multiple sessions covering multiple areas of issue. After assessing your teeth through physical inspection and with the use of an x-ray if necessary, your dentist will point out which teeth might require work and mark them. They will then use a specially designed instrument to trim and smooth out any irregularities. This is a straightforward and painless procedure and much cheaper than having to purchase, fit and constantly repair braces.
Do you have to do anything after the process is finished?
Unlike braces or dentures, there aren't any particularly complicated things you have to do to maintain your newly aligned teeth. Simply brushing regularly with care, flossing, and visiting the dentist for a check up every six or so months is enough. That said, your teeth may be a little more sensitive to damage and chipping so you'll also want to avoid any actions or food stuff that could irritate them. This means staying away from hardy and chewy candy.
By the end of it all, you'll have healthy and even teeth and a confident smile to go with it. Like all dental procedures, consulting your dentist about your eligibility for tooth contouring is a good idea.