Your Ever-Changing Smile

Hi everyone,

In our lives everything is impermanent: you can’t avoid change and like everything else in life your smile will undergo some changes, too. One day you’re looking in the mirror and see a six-year old with a missing front tooth smiling back at you. When you blink the reflection has changed and you’re thinking “I need braces or a whiter smile.” Fast forward to our elderly smiles with their associated chipped, worn or stained teeth. When it comes to smiles and our teeth, change is inevitable. But what exactly causes your teeth to shift and your smile to change?

smile

Genetics

Just like your eyes, hair and body composition, your smile and teeth are inherited. You may have heard people close to you say you have Aunt Harriet’s smile or Uncle John’s overbite. You can actually inherent your tongue shape, tooth size and tooth dimensions. Most of these are able to be modified nowadays, for instance with orthodontics crooked or misaligned teeth are no longer something you have to live with for the rest of your life. What’s even better is that technology has allowed dental repairs and improvements to be less invasive than ever before.

Aging

As we age, our smiles change with us. The constant wear and tear over time causes teeth to shift and wear down. It can actually change the dimensions of our teeth. Sometimes tooth wear over time shows up mostly on the front teeth, but it usually is accompanied by significant wear on the back teeth. This back tooth wear results in the bite collapsing down and is one of the primary reason for skin sagging and wrinkles around our mouths, not to mention an “older” look to our faces. As we bite and chew our way through a lifetime of family meals and wonderful food, our teeth inevitably shift and realign against this constant contact and pressure. Teeth evolved to serve a primate (us) whose lifespan was only 3-4 decades. Now that we all live much longer the trick is to help our teeth last as long as we do! [Read more…]

Bizarre Things People Do to Their Teeth

By Dr Langberg

Hi everyone!

Lately some people have been doing some pretty strange things to their teeth. The bizarre trend of celebrities “accessorizing” their smile is fueling an increasing popularity and growing following in popular culture.

fangs

The problem with accessorizing teeth is that it can have unintentional consequences. Sometimes these complications are immediate; sometimes it just sets you up for future problems. Common examples of extreme dentistry include widening gaps and, of course, adding bling. Call me old school but I think the best accessory is a clean, natural, beautiful smile. [Read more…]

Perfect Smile with Lumineers

By Dr Langberg

Hi everyone!

You no longer have to sacrifice healthy teeth for a bright perfect smile. Now you can have both with Lumineers. Not only are Lumineers thinner and stronger, adding support to the structure of your teeth, but it’s a non-invasive treatment that can whiten and strengthen teeth without drilling. When people think dental veneers, they often remember the drilling, the anesthetic shots, and the shaving and shaping of the tooth’s enamel. But Lumineers, today’s new dental veneer, is another alternative to the traditional veneers of yesterday. If your smile is stained, slightly misshapen or if you have gaps between your teeth, Lumineers can give you a beautiful, natural, healthy smile in just 2 visits. There are some instances where only traditional veneers will correct the problem, but it is good to know that in cases where teeth just need to be whitened and only slightly straightened Lumineers can do a beautiful job with no or minimal tooth preparation and no shots.

Dental veneers are thin, wafer-like shells that cover the front surface of the tooth, unlike crowns which cover the entire tooth. Generally, veneers are placed on upper front and side teeth when they are discolored, slightly crooked, chipped or worn. They’re also a great option if your teeth cannot be whitened by bleaching techniques (such as severe tetracycline staining), or to correct uneven spaces or gaps between teeth. [Read more…]

Look Younger with Dental Makeover

By Dr Langberg

Hi everyone!

What is the first thing you notice about a person when you meet them for the first time? Think about it. Is it their clothes or hairstyle? Chances are it’s their smile. While people seek cosmetic dentistry for different reasons, the fact remains that it can erase years from your appearance. For some people, who’ve tolerated yellowed, discolored, chipped, cracked or misaligned teeth their whole lives, they just want to stop feeling self-conscious about it. Long term it can erode a person’s self-esteem and affect their self-confidence.

As we age, teeth can become yellowed or discolored. Stained teeth can even occur from drinking wine, coffee or tea, by smoking and by certain medications such as tetracycline. But you can reverse the signs of an aging smile with cosmetic dentistry. One accessible and easy option is teeth whitening or bleaching. If you’re a candidate for whitening, you now have two options available: [Read more…]

Genetics

Aging

Mark W Langberg, DDS, MAGD, PC