One of your most prominent facial features, your smile is one of the first things people notice about you. A smile that is yellowed, dingy, or otherwise unattractive can, in some circumstances, make you look more aged and unhealthy. One of the best defenses against this, of course, is taking care of your teeth with a thorough daily hygiene routine and biannual visits to the dentist, but even these things cannot always prevent changes to your teeth that prematurely age your face.
At NYC Smile Design, we offer several cosmetic services that can brighten and enhance your smile, making it look stronger, healthier, and younger than it has in years. Stand-alone options like porcelain veneers or teeth whitening can have a profound impact on the appearance of your smile – and more comprehensive services like the smile makeover can address every issue impacting your teeth and gums for a fully rejuvenated look.
However, cosmetic treatments alone may not be enough to restore youthful appeal to the area around the smile, which can be impacted by changing tooth sizes or missing teeth. Fortunately, these issues can also be addressed to restore volume and shape to lips, cheeks, and chin, helping to produce a fuller appearance while restoring strength and function to your smile.
There is a Solution for Sunken Lips and Shrunken Jaw
Not only is it one of your most prominent facial features, your smile aids in shaping the lower half of your face. Changes in tooth size or the gradual narrowing of your jaw can allow the lips to sink in, enhancing wrinkles around the mouth and producing a more aged appearance. To address this issue, orthodontic solutions such as Invisalign® may be incredibly useful. So too might restorations like dental crowns and veneers that can be used to lengthen the visible portion of the teeth, helping to lift the lips and produce a fuller look to the area around the mouth.
At NYC Smile Design, we offer a range of orthodontic solutions, including neuromuscular orthodontics which is used to relieve symptoms of TMJ in addition to producing a stronger, healthier and more youthful appearance.
Orthodontic solutions are wonderful for teeth that have changed size or drawn inward with age, but they cannot help with the issues caused by missing teeth. In addition to allowing lips to sink in, missing teeth can result in jaw shrinkage and collapse, factors that can alter the lower face and make it appear more aged. Dental bridges and dentures can be used to restore fullness to the lips by replacing missing teeth, but these treatments cannot prevent changes to the jaw. Only dental implants are capable of that.
Dental implants are placed into the jaw and act as new tooth roots. This prevents the body from absorbing the minerals from the area around a missing tooth and keeps the facial structure intact. Depending on the number of teeth missing, dental crowns, bridges, or dentures may be used to restore the visible portion of the teeth, adding support for the lips to ensure a fuller and more youthful look in that area as well. In addition to preventing changes to the jaw, dental implants are the only tooth replacement option that can restore full strength and function for a lifetime.
Contact Us for an Evaluation
If you are unhappy with the appearance of your smile – whether you feel it’s making you look older or you simply wish it looked more attractive – call NYC Smile Design at 212-452-3344 to schedule a cosmetic dentistry evaluation with Dr. Mello or Dr. Tabib. Experienced, thorough, and trusted, our cosmetic dentists offer personalized solutions to address all of the issues impacting the smiles of each patient they see, helping to ensure the most pleasing and long-lasting results.
