Are dental implants really an investment?
After cosmetic dentistry, it’s important that you take good care of your teeth and your new dental work to be sure your smile looks perfect well into the future. Everyday dental hygiene will go a long way toward preserving your dental work, but there are also additional precautions you can take.
Keeping Your Cosmetic Dentistry Beautiful
Since you chose cosmetic dentistry to improve the look of your smile, you’ll want to be sure you take good care of your teeth after treatment. Without proper care, you could lose more teeth, develop additional decay or gum disease, or experience additional discoloration. Be sure to brush and floss regularly and see your dentist for regular exams, cleanings, and X-rays. In addition, you can:
- Avoid foods and beverages that can stain your dental work
- Don’t bite on hard objects that could chip dental work
- Wear a mouthguard during contact sports
- Let your dental hygienist know you have cosmetic work
Your dentist will also help monitor any issues that could develop, such as decay beneath or along the edges of porcelain veneers, gum disease—which can be more likely if you’ve had dental implants—or any damage that might have occurred in your cosmetic work.
Special Concerns
Some cosmetic dentistry comes with special concerns when it comes to long-term maintenance. For example, if you have porcelain veneers, your surrounding teeth could become stained, making your veneers look like they are the wrong color. Your veneers can’t be whitened, so it’s better to have your teeth whitened before the veneers are placed for a better long-term match. Teeth whitening, with or without veneers, benefits from occasional touch-up treatments.
With dental implants, your likelihood of developing gum disease can increase. Your dentist might request that you visit more often to keep track of the condition of your gums. The health of your gums is vital to the long-term health of implants, so be sure to follow any instructions you get from your dentist.
Call our team at Theodore Sewitch, DMD, MS, today to get on the path to a brighter and newer smile today!
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