Cosmetic Dentistry in California

Cosmetic dentistry is an expansion and improvement on general dentistry. To be practiced successfully, it requires training beyond dental school. A general dentist with basic undergraduate training may offer some cosmetic dentistry procedures on the side, but would you want a motorcycle mechanic working on your truck when there was an excellent truck mechanic nearby?

A qualified cosmetic dentist approaches your dental care from a different perspective than a typical general dentist. He or she takes a preventive approach and will attend to your dental health before performing a cosmetic procedure. When the beauty of your smile is approached, it will be with an eye to balance and harmony in your face and will be entirely customized for you.

A beautiful smile can only happen with a healthy mouth. Any decay or gum disease must first be fully addressed and the teeth and gums restored to their best health. Part of this work may be dental fillings. Here already, a cosmetic dentist offers better service, as those fillings will not be unsightly metal fillings which gradually weaken the teeth.

They will be white fillings, either of porcelain or of white dental composite, and will not be visible as fillings at all. They will merge with the surrounding natural tooth structure, beautifully matched in color. Similarly, you may need a crown done as part of your dental health restoration. A cosmetic dentist will not give you a gold crown unless you particularly want one. He or she will do an all-porcelain crown. It will be indistinguishable from your natural teeth and it will not develop a black line at its edge as you become older.

The best cosmetic dentists are also trained in neuromuscular dentistry, which focuses on your bite, the jaw joints, and their related structures such as the muscles, nerves, and blood vessels. If your upper and lower teeth are not meeting correctly because of jaw joint misalignment, dental damage will gradually result. Teeth will be rubbing or bumping each other and this will cause premature wear and tear, not to mention chronically strained jaw muscles.

It can develop into the painful dental condition called Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMD or TMJ), with symptoms like severe headaches, facial pain, neck and shoulder pain and earaches.

Before a cosmetic dentist would go ahead with porcelain veneers, for example, he would check for TMD and address that first if he diagnosed its presence. There would be little benefit in placing veneers if the teeth were meeting incorrectly. The misaligned bite could eventually crack or dislodge the veneers.

Once the bite was corrected, your cosmetic dentist would design porcelain veneers to match your smile’s shape. He would consider the way your lips move when you smile, how much gum tissue shows, and the line of both the upper and lower teeth. Of course the porcelain chosen for your veneers would be of the highest quality, with subtle variations in its color to match the subtle variations in your natural tooth enamel.

The best cosmetic dentists have been trained in how to work with dental porcelain. Your veneers and crowns would be made in a dental laboratory, but they would be designed and planned by your cosmetic dentist.

The best cosmetic dentists also work with the best dental laboratories. A dental technician can be run-of-the-mill in work quality, or highly-trained and turning out very superior work. The Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies offers training not just for cosmetic dentists, but also for lab technicians. Dentists who are involved in the rigorous training at LVI or who have graduated, tend to know and choose the LVI-trained lab technicians in their area.

All of this offers you very high-quality dental work for both health and beauty. If you are in the San Diego, La Jolla, or Poway areas in California, you are fortunate to be able to visit Dr. Paul Coleman. He has LVI training in cosmetic dentistry and neuromuscular dentistry, and years of experience as a general dentist. He offers the full range of cosmetic and neuromuscular dentistry. That means that your entire lifelong dental care can be done in one office by a dentist who knows you, your teeth and your dental health.