If your smile shows more gum than teeth, a gum lift might be just what you need. This cosmetic surgery technique usually takes less than an hour. The technical name for this is a gingivectomy. The excess gum tissue is cut away and the remaining gum tissue is shaped to give a more even, pleasing smile.

Whitening, or bleaching, is one of the most popular modern Cosmetic Dentistry. It takes very little time to achieve amazing results, changing your natural tooth colour by anything up to 12 shades lighter. Whitening is a safe and effective way to brighten stained, discoloured or dull teeth and lasts up to 5 years. Even a stubborn single tooth that is a noticeably different colour than the rest can be individually brightened.

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Veneers are wafer thin pieces of porcelain or plastic cemented over the front of your teeth to change their colour and/or shape. This greatly improves the appearance of the teeth and is very useful for teeth that are badly stained, crooked, unevenly spaced or misshapen. Attaching the veneers is a simple procedure requiring little or no anaesthesia. Veneers are very durable and are highly resistant to coffee, tea and cigarette stains. Veneers are not reversible because a small amount of enamel is removed from your teeth to accommodate the shell. Veneers are very good imitations, but are not exactly like natural teeth.

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Soft tissue grafts are used in periodontal procedures. Periodontology is the area of dentistry dealing with the tissues surrounding the teeth. Tissue grafts are used to treat gum disease or to correct other abnormalities like receding gums.

Cosmetic gum grafts are used to fill in gum tissue so that a symmetrical smile is achieved. Tissue can be taken from the roof of the mouth and transferred to the deficient area.

Many people hate the look of the mercury amalgam ‘silver’ fillings and this is where composite, or ‘white’ fillings come in. They are a mixture of a tooth-coloured plastic material filled with finely ground glass. Since they bond to the tooth, composite fillings restore most of the original strength and natural appearance of the tooth. The expansion and contraction of a silver filling can weaken a tooth and lead to breakage. Broken teeth can be very expensive to fix, so composite fillings can save you money in the long run.

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Crowns are used to replace missing teeth, to rebuild broken teeth, to strengthen a weakened tooth, or to restore a badly decayed, discoloured or misshapen tooth. Crowns can also be used to attach a bridge. In many cases, crowns are used after root canal therapy, and are used to restore portions of the tooth (typically the top surface) removed during treatment. Crowns can be attached to natural teeth or dental implants.

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