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Whitening
The easiest way to improve any smile is to make it whiter and brighter.
We offer two very effective ways to accomplish this great smile
enhancement.
One-hour ZOOM!
 ZOOM!
is our aptly-named, in-office smile whitening system. It uses a
special light that activates a powerful gel to provide fast and
very effective whitening of dark, stained, or discolored teeth.
Most treatments take just about one hour, and the results can last
years when properly maintained. All ZOOM! treatments can include
custom mouth trays and at-home whitening gel for future touch -ups,
making it easy to maintain your bright teeth. If you prefer immediate
results, this is a great way to enhance your smile right now.
At-home Smile Whitening
If gradual change is preferred, at-home whitening offers a safe,
easy, effective way to get your teeth whiter. Using a gentle whitening
gel (we offer several strengths and flavors for your comfort) placed
in custom-made mouth trays, you can control when and how often you
whiten in the comfort of your own home. Depending on how you proceed,
you can get your teeth their whitest in as few as two weeks. All
it takes is one short appointment in our office and wearing the
trays for an hour or two each day while you are busy doing other
important things.
Veneers
 When
more than just a color change is what you want, then veneers are
the answer.
Veneers are very thin sheets of porcelain that
are bonded to the front surfaces of teeth and can drastically change
their appearance--shape, contour, texture, color, and/or positioning!
They have been used for several decades throughout the world with
great success and have many uses. Typically multiple veneers are
used to improve healthy but less-than-beautiful smiles, taking them
from the commonplace to the exceptional in just a few weeks and
with minimal tooth preparation. In these situations they can be
a conservative way to rebuild broken-down, chipped, or worn teeth
in lieu of crowns, or can be a form of "instant orthodontics"
to correct mal-positioned, turned, and crowded teeth. In certain
situations, single veneers can be used to correct that one not-quite-right
tooth that stands out in an otherwise great smile.
Porcelain Crowns
When you need to restore severely weakened or broken-down teeth
that cannot be fixed with veneers and appearance is a concern, porcelain
crowns are the answer. With advances in the strength and durability
of ceramics, crowns can now be made entirely out of porcelain. They
can be made to look just like your natural teeth, or they can create
brand-new, beautiful teeth for you just like veneers.
The most common use of porcelain crowns is on front teeth where
appearance is exceptionally important, but they can also be used
on back teeth. While porcelain crowns still may not fully match
up to metal crowns in strength and durability, use over the last
several decades has proven that when placed judiciously on the back
chewing teeth, they can be very natural-looking, long-lasting replacements
for all-metal or porcelain-and-metal crowns-- and because they contain
no metal, there is no occurrence of allergies.
Porcelain Onlays
 When
a back chewing tooth needs to be repaired but a basic filling won't
last, porcelain onlays create strong & beautiful restorations
that are more conservative than crowns. Onlays can be used to restore
teeth with even major structural problems. While a crown surrounds
the tooth and covers all of the outside tooth surfaces, an onlay
rests inside the tooth and only covers the top chewing surfaces.
So in cases where the tooth that needs fixing is naturally beautiful,
the onlay allows that natural beauty to show instead of covering
it with a crown.
White Fillings
 When
you need a small filling but don't want ugly silver in your teeth,
direct resin or white fillings are the way to go. Their most obvious
advantage is beauty--a well-done white filling can be indistinguishable
from the natural tooth. They have many advantages. White fillings
can change the appearance of teeth, strengthen teeth, and more conservatively
treat teeth--all things that silver fillings cannot do.
White fillings are bonded to tooth structure--this means that they
actually integrate with the tooth, thereby sealing the gap between
tooth and filling and adding their strength to the tooth. This allows
for the more varied uses of resin beyond just regular fillings--like
placing thin layers over front teeth to change their color, shape
or general appearance; or repairing small chips or fractures in
teeth; or even being placed in the grooves of teeth to prevent decay
from ever occurring. Bonded white fillings are an extremely beautiful
advance in the creation of fantastic and healthy smiles.
Invisalign
 Orthodontics--without
the braces!
Yes, it's true. Now you may be able to have "braces"
without having the braces! A new technology called INVISALIGN provides
acrylic aligners that fit comfortably and almost invisibly over
teeth to gently straighten them. Treatment is limited to simple
tooth movements, so not everyone is a candidate for INVISALIGN,
but for those who are it can be an effective, comfortable, and invisible
way to straighten teeth. If you want straight teeth but don't want
to be called "metal mouth" or have people ask when the
next train is due, then INVISALIGN may be your ticket to a wonderful
smile.
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