Mouth Appliances Can Help

Your dentist may suggest that a mouth appliance be used in cases where bruxism or temporomandibular joint (TMJ) problems are a consideration. A special kind of appliance can be worn to interrupt grinding your teeth. This is a plastic form designed to fit your teeth and can allow your muscles to rest.


After you wear the appliance for a period of time the dentist, through a process of adjusting the plastic, can improve and rebalance your bite. It may sometimes be necessary to rebuild your teeth to fit this new position, which can make the muscles comfortable again and improve your appearance. A possible side benefit is that you may find some of your facial wrinkles disappearing and your overall appearance improved. That "collapsed" look will no longer exist and you'll immediately look younger.

The Aging Smile

The aging face can be appealing face if the smile is attractive and healthy looking. But dentistry's role in helping create more attractive and youthful smiles with aesthetic appeal is not very well understood and definitely underrated. Billions of dollars are spent each year for both services and products to help make people look younger and more attractive. Countless persons have had facelifts and other corrective facial surgery. But no matter what you do to your face, if the smile that goes with it reveals worn, dark, mission, chipped, fractured and misshapen teeth, the youthfulness that the plastic surgeon created is instantly diminished. More dentists are recognizing the importance of aesthetics to their patients as more people become aware that a new face can reshape their life. And the smile is one of the most important parts of that new face.

How your gums affect your smile

Just as a picture needs a frame, a tooth needs the support of good healthy gums. Beautiful teeth can be marred by unsightly gums that are red, swollen or puffy. Worse yet are gums that have receded because of periodontal disease. However, even when the disease does cause gum loss, creating unwanted spaces between teeth there are ways to deal with those unattractive dark cracks.



Loose teeth do not always point to gum disease, but if you can press on your teeth and they respond by falling back into your gums, more than likely it is because periodontial disease is present. Time is the best friend of gum disease. The longer the disease is allowed to fester, the worse the disease becomes, and thus the more severe and costly the dental treatment to arrest it.

Why Teeth Stain

If your teeth stain or become discoloured, they probably do it in one of the three separate ways. Some stains stick directly to the surfaces of the teeth, others are soft deposits, and some are actually part of the tooth. The surface stains occur mostly between your teeth and on the surfaces of crooked teeth. They are usually dark brown and are caused by such strong discolouring agents as coffee, tea or tobacco. If you're lucky, they can be partially removed by daily oral hygiene and regular visits to your dentist or hygienist for professional tooth cleaning and polishing.

What qualifies a dentist to say he is the best?

Graduating valedictorian (top of the class) from the University of Alberta in 1986 Dr. Cam Kesteven has remained a general dentist to meet all of the needs of his clients. Since that time he has taken over 1300 hours of continuing education to stay current and remain “At the top of his game.” He is an active member in the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, International Association for Orthodontics, Dental Organization for Conscious Sedation, and LVI - North America’s premiere educational centre for advanced cosmetic studies. He can be reached at Kesteven Dental Care Studio at 604-826-8087 or visit http://www.drkesteven.com/.