Like your smile and yourself

Regardless of what anyone else thinks about your smile and overall demeanor, if you feel good about yourself, it's a first step towards self-confidence and a good healthy self-image. Do what is necessary to give yourself the confidence you need to accomplish what you desire, or to feel good about yourself. Being able to cope in a turbulent, complex environment sometimes means having a good, strong sense of self-worth. Taking care of your physical self first can give you this stronger self-concept, something you can build on as a foundation to enhance other areas of your life.

If you are not really pleased with your smile, you may subconsciously avoid smiling as often or widely as you could and should. You may have developed a habit of hiding you smile with your hand (or even your tongue) so as not to reveal how ugly you feel it is! If you have had braces on for a while, you may have tried to hide your braces by not smiling or smiling only half-heartedly. Others try to restrict their lips when smiling or laughing to avoid showing a dark front or side tooth.

Once you have had your cosmetic correction, you may have to practice smiling by looking into a large mirror, then relax your lips and ease into a big smile. Think of something funny so that you really let your lips reveal your teeth. See how much better your smile looks! Repeat this procedure enough so that you will become accustomed to smiling again.

Always remember to smile, it increases your face value.

Permanent fillings

Have you ever looked into a mirror after your teeth have been beautifully restored only to think, "I wish the fillings would last forever?" Well, we dentists would too! In fact, dental researchers are hard at work on developing an ideal filling material that is tooth-coloured and won't wear or break.

"Permanent fillings" is one of the most treacherous misnomers ever to creep into dental jargon. Despite great efforts to develop a permanent restorative material, the fact remains that none exists. Understanding this initially can head off disappointment in the future when restorations have to be repaired or replaced. Evaluation of restorative performance will vary with both the dentist and the patient.

Most restorations remain in the mouth long after they begin to fail. It is often impossible for the patient to recognize failure when it occurs. When they do become apparent, signs of loss of tooth contour from wear, discolouration and other minor problems are often grudgingly accepted by people as inevitable. Replace your worn out restorations before they become the source of new problems. Ask your dentist at each checkup if anything needs replacing.

Understanding face shapes and dentistry - For women

There are many types of facial shapes and each has its own charm. The trick lies in making the most of your own features by accentuating your good points, strengthening the weak points, and minimizing the bad ones. For instance, when you have a square face, you don't want to have sawed off, square-looking teeth that are all even. A space between the front teeth will also emphasize the horizontal plane, and may also infuence the squareness of the face. This accentuates the squareness of your jaw, a features that can be quite becoming, but can also be masculine looking too.

If your face is round and your teeth are worn even, your face may appear to be fatter than it really is. Many times, your teeth can either be cosmetically contoured or lengthened through bonding or crowns to give you a better smileline. However, it is best to combine a more flattering hairstyle plus the new smileline for a maximum esthestic result.

If, on the hand, you have a long, angular face, you want your two front teeth to be just slightly longer than the ones adjacent to them. If they are too long, they'll make your face appear long and thin-looking.

A well-trained cosmetic dentist and team will be able to help to design your smile to be flattering to your face.