There are lots of trends out there in the dental world that are intended to give you a more unique smile. Cosmetic dentistry has become a trend to get you the brightest, whitest, most luxury grin you could ask for. However not all treatments are treated equal. Some of these trends can be very damaging and should be avoided.
Creating an Artificial Tooth Gap/Widening a Current Gap
You may see famous stars who have decided to forgo “fixing” or closing a gap in their front teeth. Some notable names include: Madonna, Anna Paquin, and Seal. While a natural tooth gap can make your smile different and quirky, creating a gap to fit a style or trend is damaging to not only your teeth, but your oral structure as well. Surgery may even be required to achieved the gap and is not recommended due to the extent of work and damage it can create. If you’re happy with your natural gap and want to forgo correction, that’s one thing but don’t strive to create one.
Bleaching Teeth to Extremes
One of the most popular forms of dental trends is white, white, white. Whitening your smile has become quite the obsession over the years and people have turned to all forms of remedies to get that smile brighter and brighter. While it may seem highly desirable to have the brightest smile in the room, overly bleaching and whitening your teeth can erode the natural enamel and damage your gums and teeth creating chalky and dull appearances that aren’t attractive or healthy. Ask your dentists and orthodontists what they recommend for safe whitening so you can have a healthy, and white smile.
Any Kind of Mouth Jewelry
Piercings have become more popular over the years as well. Tongues, lips, mouth, and even teeth are getting adorned with jewels to keep up with the latest trends. Famous rappers have even replaced their teeth with diamonds. However, even a gold crown can significantly damage a tooth beyond repair due to the removal of natural structure needed to insert the implants. Piercings can rub and irritate teeth and gums and cause malformation of the oral structure. It’s best to avoid adding the foreign bodies to your mouth to allow optimum health of your teeth and gums.
Reshaping the Teeth
Forcibly reshaping the teeth is one of the worst damages you can do to your mouth. While some people may require slight altering of a tooth’s shape to even out the smile or dull overly sharp fangs, creating false shapes for a certain aesthetic is nothing but damaging and unnecessary. There’s a risk of breaking a tooth and not to mention the severe amount of tooth loss that occurs during the process.
Increasing the Length of Crowns
Sometimes the natural development of the mouth creates a more “gummy” smile than desired. Some dentists and periodontists will cut down the gums some to increase the height of the crowns and allow the smile to look more desired. However, this can leave your gums vulnerable to infection and compromise the health of your smile so special care must be taken to evaluate these cases.
While there are many trends out there related to your teeth, the focus should be on the best trend – the trend of caring for your teeth. So keep up the brushing, flossing, and regular dental/orthodontic care, and you’ll have a smile to envy!
