Visit Our Cosmetic Dentist Office for Dental Laminates

If you want to improve your smile, visit our Green Brook Township cosmetic dentist office for dental laminates. This is an easy way to transform the appearance of your smile from drab to spectacular.  Whether you have misshapen teeth, damaged teeth or teeth that no longer look youthful, laminates are diverse enough to correct the problem.  In fact, there are very few things that cannot be fixed with this procedure.  That is why we use them to complete both full smile makeovers and dental restorations.

What you should know about dental laminates:

Dental laminates are also known as dental veneers. Upon visiting our cosmetic dentist office, we will examine the patient's teeth and take X-rays to determine if the patient is a strong candidate for dental laminates. While most people are strong candidates, others may not be. If a patient's tooth is severely damaged, we may suggest restoring it with a dental crown instead. We will also discuss what a patient does not like about his or her smile in detail so that we can create a plan for addressing those issues.
To prepare the patient's teeth for dental laminates, we will need to remove a small portion of the enamel. Laminates or veneers are incredibly thin shells made of porcelain. While laminates are only .5 to .6 mm thick, we need to remove a portion of the enamel so that the laminates do not stand out or make the teeth appear overly large. Once we finish preparing the teeth, we will secure temporary laminates while we create the permanent ones in the dental lab. Patients may need to wear the temporary laminates for a week or two. During that time, the patient will want to avoid biting into anything directly and stick with soft foods that will not dislodge the temporary laminates. When the final set of laminates is ready, the patient will need to return to our cosmetic dentist office. We will remove the temporaries and bind the permanent ones into place using dental cement. Once secure, the patient will be able to return to a normal diet.
Note: there are some types of laminates that are so thin that your enamel will not be removed.  The decision to do so is based on the type of laminate and your natural teeth so we will discuss these options with you during your consultation.

How dental laminates are used:

There are several ways to use them to improve your smile.  The most common is to brighten dull teeth that have become stained.  It is common for teeth to lose their luster over time and to become stained. While teeth whitening can help, there are some stains that are difficult to remove and laminates can cover those teeth to complete your smile transformation.
Since laminates cover your natural teeth, we can also use them to close gaps between your teeth, change the shape of your teeth, make your teeth appear straight and much more. This can all be done in our Green Brook Township dental office in far less time than it would take to use other solutions like orthodontics.

What You Should Know About Tooth Fillings

When patients come into our Green Brook Township dentist office with decay, they may not know that they are going to be getting a filling. For most of our patient's, fillings are not a new thing. However, we sometimes get a younger patient in or someone who has been lucky with great teeth, who has no idea about the process of getting a filling.
Since nobody actually starts out coming in for a tooth filling, we know that most visits usually begin with a regularly-scheduled examination that finds any decay. A filling is exactly what it sounds like: material that replaces damaged enamel to prevent infection. The filling closes off spaces in the teeth that may otherwise attract bacterial infections. In order to do a filling, there are a number of necessary steps to take.

What is involved with tooth fillings?

A tooth filling typically starts with a regular examination, which leads to the discovery of soft spots or places where decay creates a cavity. To prevent cavities from forming, we strongly encourage all of our patients to come in at least twice a year for an examination. Catching cavities early on will mean fewer fillings and a better chance at preventing decay. If we discover a cavity, we can go to work filling it.
The first step is to make sure that the patient is completely comfortable. If necessary, we will administer a local anesthesia in the gums around the affected tooth. The anesthesia will completely numb the tooth so the patient does not feel any discomfort while we go through the rest of the process. One thing we do tell patients getting a tooth filling is that they may still feel a mild pressure. After we properly numb the tooth, we will remove the decay by shaving away any infected enamel.
The dentist will also use this opportunity to create a shape in the tooth that is easier to fill since decay can go in all directions. For some kinds of fillings, there are a few extra steps. For example, some fillings, such as bonded fillings, also require us to etch the tooth, which will happen during the shaving process. Other kinds of fillings require the application of a resin. When we apply resin, we use that blue light next to the chair to harden and make it the resin strong.

What materials are used in tooth fillings?

There are numerous materials that can be used depending on what look you want and what the budget will withstand. We can use gold fillings, amalgam (silver) fillings, composite (plastic) resin filling, or even porcelain fillings.