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Cosmetic Dentistry

Cosmetic dentistry services

What services does a cosmetic dentist offer?

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Your smile is one of the most compelling gifts you share with other people. But when you don’t feel comfortable with the appearance of your teeth, you may purposely try to hide your smile.

Cosmetic dentists offer many services that can restore your teeth’s healthy appearance and give you the confidence to smile openly and broadly at the world again. Let’s take a look at a some of the cosmetic dental services that you can benefit from.

Repairing Chipped or Broken Teeth

Chipped and broken teeth are more common than you might think. Chipped teeth are usually caused by some sort of injury, like a fall or a car accident. However, sometimes teeth can become chipped because the enamel of your teeth weakens over time.

Broken teeth are often caused by excessive pressure. This pressure might come from routinely chewing on ice, biting into hard candies, or grinding your teeth.

Whether your teeth are chipped or broken, they need to be repaired. There are several different ways that a cosmetic dentist can repair your chipped or broken teeth, but the two methods that are most used are bonding (for chipped teeth) and crowns (for broken teeth).

Cosmetic dentists bond matching-color resin to the tooth that has chipped to make its appearance whole again. This is usually done with your front teeth when they have sustained damage.

Broken teeth that have healthy roots that need to be protected are crowned. Crowns are made from durable materials and they will usually last you a lifetime.

Aligning Teeth for Adults

You may think that teeth-straightening and braces are just for children. However, if you’re unhappy with the appearance of your teeth’s alignment, this is a cosmetic dental option for you.

Cosmetic dentists have the latest types of aligners that can address things like overbites or crooked teeth. Many of these teeth aligning options are removeable – and they are practically invisible.

Adults like the fact that they can choose clear braces and not have to endure wearing metal braces for several years. If you want to improve the alignment of your teeth or correct your overbite, a cosmetic dentist can help you achieve this.

Enhancing Your Teeth’s Appearance Using Veneers

Cosmetic dentists use veneers to help give you the perfect smile. Dental veneers can change the size, length, shape, and color of your teeth, giving them a beautiful and uniform appearance.

Your teeth grow naturally a bit more haphazardly that you may like. You may teeth that are uneven in length or you may have some teeth that look smaller in proportion to your other teeth. Veneers are a great way to address this.

While some people choose to have veneers installed on all their teeth, others choose just to have them installed on the teeth that show when they smile. Whatever your preference, the right veneer solution is possible.

Whitening Your Teeth

You may have looked in the mirror and noticed that your teeth don’t exactly look pearly white anymore. That is because the food and drinks that we consume cause our teeth to lose their luster with time.

Coffee, tea, and wine are big offenders, and they can leave your smile a little dingy. Fortunately, one of the services that cosmetic dentists offer is teeth whitening. While there are many over-the-counter products that claim to whiten your teeth, they may not be as safe or as effective as professional teeth whiteners.

Having your teeth whitened as a cosmetic dental procedure is easy. It is completely safe and it will produce the results you want in a very short period of time.

Abrasing Your Teeth’s Enamel

If the stains on your teeth are superficial, enamel abrasion is a perfect solution to restore their gleam. With this cosmetic dental procedure, a micro-abrasion tool removes discoloration on the outside of the enamel with a pumice stone.

Enamel abrasion, however, will not remove deeper stains inside the enamel or inside the tooth, so you can talk with your dentist about whether this option is right for renewing your smile.

Schedule a cosmetic dental appointment with us today.

If you are looking for a Coff cosmetic dentist with the knowledge and experience to make your smile the best it can be, then you want to entrust your dental care to our team at Magic Smiles.

Call us now at (02) 6654-0650 to make your appointment.

beautiful woman on white background pointing to her smile

Coffs Harbour Dentist Offers Tips for Safe Teeth Whitening

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What’s the first thing you notice about a person? For many people, it’s their smile. Did you know that a beautiful smile can make a person appear more intelligent and successful? That could be a life-changing assumption! Beautiful smiles have several qualities, including no stains, no missing teeth, a healthy gum line, no chips or cracks, and perfect alignment.

Teeth whitening is one of the quickest ways to improve the appearance of your teeth. Unfortunately, not all whitening methods are safe. The good news is that it can be done safely! Here are five tips for safe teeth whitening from our Coffs Harbour dentist:

1. Understand dental stains

There are two types of dental stains: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic dental stains alter the dentin, the layer beneath the dental enamel. These stains aren’t cosmetic, and therefore, cannot be treated by teeth whitening methods. An overuse of fluoride, certain medications, trauma, or aging can lead to intrinsic stains. Dental veneers are the most common treatment for intrinsic stains.

Extrinsic dental stains only affect the dental enamel and are typically caused by certain foods and beverages and smoking. These stains become permanent when a person continually exposes his or her teeth to these substances and when tooth-staining agents sit on the teeth for long periods. These are the types of stains that can be treated with professional or over-the-counter teeth whitening products.

Without understanding these differences, people often overuse whitening treatments and cause more damage to their teeth. This can result in severe dental sensitivity, gum irritation, and more discoloration.

2. Consult your dentist

A dental visit is necessary before beginning the whitening process. Dentists will never offer whitening treatments or encourage over-the-counter whitening for patients with cavities, gum disease, or other oral health issues. These problems must be addressed before bleaching begins. Failing to address these issues can lead to more and worse oral health problems.

Additionally, the dentist will tell you whether the stains on your teeth are intrinsic or extrinsic so you know which type of treatment you need.

Finally, a dentist can offer personalized tips for patients who decide to use over-the-counter whitening treatments.

3. Follow instructions carefully

Store-bought whitening gels, strips, pastes, and rinses have specific directions written on the back of the product. Be sure to follow these instructions to a T. Failure to do so could result in damage to the enamel.

4. Be wary of home remedies

While some home remedies do provide some results, most of them only remove surface stains, much like toothpaste. Many home remedies, such as rubbing strawberries on your teeth, can actually harm them if done too often or improperly. Be sure to do your research before trying these at-home whitening methods.

5. Opt for professional whitening treatments

Our best advice to you is to save up or invest in professional whitening treatments. In-office whitening is safe, extremely effective, and long-lasting.

Because a dentist performs the whitening procedure, the process can be customized to your needs, and the soft tissues of the mouth are covered and protected from the whitening gel. Professional whitening treatments provide incredible results in under an hour. In most cases, when patients leave the office, their teeth are up to 8 shades brighter than when they walked in. These results can last up to three years.

Coffs Harbour Teeth Whitening

At Magic Smiles, our team is dedicated to offering safe, effective, and conservative cosmetic treatments that offer dramatic results.

Ready to improve your smile? And possibly your life? Call our friendly dental team today at (02) 6654-0650 to schedule an initial consultation.

portrait of man smiling at the camera

How Cosmetic Dentistry Helps People Achieve Beautiful Smiles

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With the invention of social media, the need and desire for a beautiful, picture-perfect smile has grown significantly. Thanks to science and advancements in dentistry, cosmetic dentistry treatments are more accessible and affordable than ever before!

Achieving a beautiful smile could be as simple as establishing a good oral hygiene routine, as complex as getting a complete smile makeover, or something in between. Regardless, the first step is to find an experienced and highly qualified cosmetic dentist near you. Then, talk to him or her about what a picture-perfect smile looks like to you. That could be having white teeth, a straighter smile, closing gaps, or fixing a chip in a tooth.

Whatever that looks like for you, a cosmetic dentist will have a solution. Here are the most common cosmetic dentistry treatments:

Teeth Whitening

Professional teeth whitening offers benefits that over-the-counter products can’t provide. For example, store-bought whitening treatments typically take about three weeks to produce results. In-office whitening offers immediate ones! Additionally, patients can rest assured that their teeth are in safe hands. Many people damage their dental enamel by over-using whitening products at home. Dentists know exactly how much product to use on the teeth and how long to leave it on them, so patients don’t experience lasting dental damage.

Gum Contouring

Gum contouring is necessary for patients with too much gum tissue that causes a gummy smile or shrinking gums that expose the tooth roots. This procedure requires the dentist to use special tools to reshape the gums. In some cases, only one or a few teeth need treatment while others require contouring in the entire smile zone.

Tooth Contouring

One or more oddly shaped teeth can make a smile less attractive. Dentists solve this issue by reshaping (or contouring) those teeth to make your entire smile uniform.

Porcelain Veneers

Dental veneers are often referred to as a quick fix for all cosmetic dental issues. Porcelain veneers are specifically beneficial because they are made from a durable material that looks just like natural teeth.

Porcelain veneers address the following issues:

  • Gaps
  • Extrinsic dental stains
  • Crooked and crowded teeth
  • Chips
  • Cracks
  • Odd-shaped teeth

Dental Bonding

Dentists can use the same material that they use for tooth-colored fillings to provide cosmetic dental solutions. Dental bonding utilizes composite resin to fill cracks, fill in gaps, fix chips, and correct odd-shaped teeth. Dental bonding is a common procedure because of its affordability. However, patients often need to have the procedure redone after a few years.

Invisalign®

Traditional metal braces have become less and less common because of the option of Invisalign clear aligners. These medical-grade plastic trays are just as effective as metal braces in almost every situation. Adult patients especially love this option when it comes to orthodontics because it allows them to achieve a beautiful, perfectly aligned smile without having to persevere through months of bulky brackets and wire. Very few people will even notice clear aligners on your teeth!

Talk to an experienced Invisalign dentist to learn if you are a candidate for this treatment.

Cosmetic Dentistry in Woolgoolga

Are you interested in improving the appearance of your smile? Our team of dental professionals at Magic Smiles is here to help! We love seeing the look on our patient’s faces when they finally have a smile they’re proud of, and we see it all the time.

Contact our friendly team today at (02) 6654-0650 to schedule an initial consultation.

close up of woman's smile

6 Common Question About Dental Veneers

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Want a smile that turns heads? Consider porcelain veneers! These tooth-colored shells provide patients with picture-perfect smiles that last. Dental veneers began as a temporary solution for famous actors and actresses to use during photo shoots and red-carpet events. Fortunately, veneers are now available to everyone!

In this blog, we’ll address the most common questions about dental veneers so you can decide if this cosmetic dental solution is right for you.

1. How are dental veneers placed?

Once a patient is approved for dental veneers, he or she will meet with their dentist to talk about the design of the veneers and any concerns he or she may have. Then, the dentist takes x-rays or impressions of the patient’s teeth. The final step of the first appointment is to prepare the tooth for the veneers. This process includes removing dental enamel from the teeth, then taking another impression to ensure the veneers fit perfectly. Temporary veneers are placed on the patient’s tooth until the permanent ones are ready.

During the next appointment, the temporary veneers are removed, and the permanent ones are placed. If the veneers aren’t perfect when they arrive, the dentist can make small adjustments to the shape and color to meet the patient’s expectations.

2. Do veneers require special care?

In short, no. Patients can treat their veneers like they treat their natural teeth by brushing twice a day, flossing daily, and using a mouthguard at night if necessary. Those with veneers may want to visit the dentist more frequently to ensure their teeth, gums, and veneers are healthy.

Patients should also avoid bad habits, such as biting their nails, chewing ice, using their teeth to open certain items, and using tobacco.

3. What are Lumineers?

Dentists often call Lumineers “no-prep veneers” because they don’t require any enamel be removed from the teeth. Rather than being made from porcelain, Lumineers are made from thin laminate. Also unlike porcelain veneers, Lumineers can be removed without causing severe damage to your teeth.

4. Are there any drawbacks to veneers?

Dental veneers cannot be removed without being replaced because the natural teeth are permanently damaged. Additionally, they are more expensive than Lumineers and other cosmetic dental procedures.

5. What alternative cosmetic procedures provide similar results?

Veneers can correct multiple aesthetic issues at one time which makes them superior to other cosmetic procedures. However, there are ways to achieve similar results. Patients may require one or more of these cosmetic solutions:

  • Professional teeth whitening
  • Dental bonding
  • Orthodontics
  • Tooth contouring

6. Who is a candidate for veneers?

Dental veneers are best for patients who have cosmetic concerns and an otherwise healthy smile. Patients with cavities, gum disease, or who suffer from bruxism are not good candidates for veneers. However, these issues can be corrected, allowing patients to receive veneers.

Additionally, patients must be willing to undergo the entire procedure and commit to quitting bad habits that could damage their veneers.

Dental Veneers in Woolgoolga

The best way to determine if veneers are right for you is to meet with an experienced cosmetic dentist like ours at Magic Smiles. We are passionate about helping patients achieve healthy, beautiful smiles. Dental veneers are just one of many ways we do that!

Call our friendly dental team today at (02) 6654-0650 to schedule an initial consultation.

beautiful transformed smile with veneers

Can veneers transform my smile?

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Who doesn’t want a beautiful, dazzling smile? A great smile starts with straight, white teeth, but what if your teeth are less than perfect? For these patients, our team at Magic Smiles offers veneers. This cosmetic treatment seamlessly improves the appearance of teeth.

Porcelain veneers are thin, strong shells that our dentist places on the surface of teeth. They are strong and durable to perform like your normal teeth. Best of all, your teeth will look and feel natural.

Who Are the Best Candidates?

The best candidates for veneers are people who have minor cosmetic issues. If your teeth are extremely crooked, misaligned, or broken, there are other treatment options available. In our practice, we use veneers for the following:

  • Small gaps
  • Small chips and breaks
  • Misshapen and crooked teeth
  • Stained teeth that are resistant to whitening

Additionally, patients should have healthy teeth and gums. If you have cavities or gum disease, the dentist needs to treat these oral health problems before you can get the treatment. This cosmetic procedure also works better for individuals who don’t clench or grind their teeth. During a consultation, our dentist can determine if veneers are the right choice to meet your needs.

What Happens During Installation?

The installation process is straightforward and involves two separate appointments. During your first visit, the doctor removes a small amount of enamel from the tooth’s surface. By removing the enamel, the dentist is making room for the veneer to fit appropriately.

Once your teeth are prepped, the doctor makes impressions, takes photos, and x-rays. The images and impressions are sent to the lab. At the laboratory, the technicians make your permanent veneers.

In some cases, the dentist might place temporary veneers while the permanent restoration is customized at the lab. Once your permanent restoration is ready, you will return to the dentist. The doctor first checks that the fit, shape, and color are correct before placing. He or she can make any need adjustments at this time. The doctor uses a strong bond to attach the veneers.

How Will I Feel Afterward?

After the treatment, it’s normal for patients to experience some discomfort and soreness. This usually subsides within a few days, and patients can take over-the-counter pain relievers to minimize any symptoms. The teeth might feel sensitive, so you might have to watch what you eat and drink. It is important to follow your doctor’s instructions to minimize any symptoms.

How Do I Care for my Veneers?

Veneers are long-lasting and can last up to 20 years or even longer in some cases. To get the most out of your new veneers, you should care for them like you would your natural teeth. This includes brushing and flossing daily. Patients should also be cognizant of the foods they eat to minimize the chance of any chips or breaks.

Patients should visit their dentist regularly for check-ups. In case your teeth suffer any wear or tear, your doctor can fix or replace your veneers to restore your smile.

Schedule a Consultation

If you want to find out if dental veneers are right for you, you can contact our team to schedule a consultation. Our dentist examines your mouth and gums to determine if you are a candidate for the procedure. Give us a call at (02) 6654-0650 to speak to one of our knowledgeable team members.

 

 

 

Woman smiling

Smile Makeover | Combining Cosmetic Dentistry Treatments

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Enhance Your Appearance with a Smile Makeover

Everyone wants a gorgeous smile. After all, it’s one of the first things people notice when they meet you for the first time. Patients who wish to dramatically enhance their appearance can undergo a smile makeover at Magic Smiles. This comprehensive treatment combines two or more cosmetic dentistry procedures into a custom plan.

Magic Smiles has two convenient locations to serve you: Coffs Harbour and Woolgoolga. Our Coffs dentists are skilled and experienced in cosmetic dentistry. Combining science and artistry, they help our patients achieve the beautiful, healthy smiles they desire.

Am I a Candidate for a Smile Makeover?

A smile makeover is strictly cosmetic in nature. To qualify, patients should already be in good oral health. Issues such as decay and gum disease must be treated prior to any cosmetic procedure. Otherwise, it could compromise your oral health even further.

To find out if you are a candidate for a smile makeover, schedule a consultation at one of our surgery locations. We can talk with you in detail about your options.

Commonly Combined Procedures

First, it’s important to understand that no two smile makeovers are the same. Because each patient is unique, every treatment plan reflects their individual goals. Here are some of the most common treatments that our patients combine.

Teeth Whitening

Over time, dark-colored foods and beverages can cause the teeth to become stained and yellow. Professional teeth whitening can brighten the smile dramatically – by several shades. At Magic Smiles, we offer both in-office and take-home whitening.

Dental Bonding

Teeth that are chipped and cracked can be repaired with dental bonding. During this treatment, your dentist applies a tooth-colored composite resin material to conceal cosmetic imperfections. Bonding can even address deep dental stains that don’t respond to teeth whitening.

In general, dental bonding lasts about five to seven years. It’s a minimally invasive procedure that delivers beautiful results.

Porcelain Veneers

Chipped, cracked, misshapen, or discolored teeth can be treated with porcelain veneers. These custom-crafted restorations adhere to the front surfaces of the teeth to conceal a wide range of cosmetic imperfections and bring balance to your smile.

Porcelain veneers treatment can be completed in two office visits. During the first appointment, your dentist prepares the teeth by removing small amounts of enamel. Next, impressions are taken of your teeth. These are sent to our dental lab for the fabrication of your veneers.

When the lab has created your restorations, we will schedule you for a second appointment. During this visit, your dentist assesses the fit and appearance of your veneers and bonds them permanently into place.

Porcelain veneers are strong and durable. With proper care, they can last two decades or longer.

Gum Contouring

Excess gum tissue can cover portions of the teeth, making them appear short or boxy. Also referred to as a “gummy smile”, this condition can be addressed with gum contouring. During this procedure, your dentist removes excess tissue and reshapes the existing gumline. The result is a more balanced and symmetrical smile.

Traditionally, gum contouring was performed with scalpels and sutures. Today, advanced laser technology can be used instead, resulting in less bleeding and discomfort.

Clear Aligner Therapy

Misaligned teeth can detract from your appearance. But more importantly, they have a negative impact on oral health. Clear aligner therapy is a popular braces alternative that straightens your teeth discreetly using clear plastic trays.

Clear aligners are also removeable, so patients can still enjoy their favorite foods while undergoing orthodontic treatment. Best of all, clear aligner therapy can correct most of the same orthodontic problems as traditional braces.

Schedule Your Smile Makeover Consultation

Even if you have a healthy smile, there may be certain aesthetic elements you wish to improve. A smile makeover can dramatically enhance your appearance and boost your confidence. To learn more, or to schedule an appointment, call one of our three convenient office locations.

Woolgoolga

43 Beach Street
Woolgoolga
NSW 2456
P: (02) 6654-0650
[email protected]
Mon – Fri: 9am to 5pm
Sat: Closed
Sun: Closed

    Coffs Harbour

    176 Pacific Hwy, Suite 2
    Coffs Harbour
    NSW 2450
    P: (02) 6652-3242
    [email protected]
    Mon-Fri: 9am to 5pm
    Sat: 9am-1pm
    Sun: Closed