Hollywood Smiles or Lots of Tears…The future of cosmetic dentistry.

By Dr Raj Kumar

For over 50 years the British have been depicted in the movies with just awful teeth. Just look at movie characters such as Fagin in Oliver and Austin Powers as a hip 60’s man wearing a denture to make his teeth look crooked.  Over the last 10 years with the introduction of Extreme Makeover and 10 years Younger everyone is looking at smiles. Having a great smile can be achieved when you are younger with braces, be they metal, white or invisible as in Invisalign. But what happens when you are older? Sometimes people want a quick fix and are not prepared to wait. Let us look at the various ways that you can improve your smile.

Tooth whitening is relatively quick, pain free and affordable. It is best achieved by your dentist either with custom made home bleaching trays or at the surgery by the dentist. Most bleaching systems should be using a peroxide system and are best prescribed by your dentist.

If your teeth are crooked then you may be tempted into having porcelain crowns or veneers. These treatments involve trimming away the enamel off the front, sides and in the case of crowns, the backs of the teeth. The porcelain restorations are then cemented after about 1 week. Many dentists advise veneers as a non -invasive dental treatment; some veneers are advertised as so thin that there is not any need to remove any enamel. The problem is that a veneer can be no thinner than 0.5 mm so if you have straight teeth and veneers are cemented on top then your teeth will feel and look slightly thicker. If you have teeth that are crooked then the dentist has to remove any tooth tissue that sticks out plus space for the 0.5 mm to 1mm thick veneer. Removing the enamel can damage the dentine underneath and weakens the bonding strength of the veneer.Veneers can look false, artificial or the wrong colour and it takes a very expert hand to get 1 veneer to match the adjacent teeth, so many dentists wrongly advise having as many teeth as possible veneered. Veneers can break, fall off, cause nerve damage and even tooth fracture. In the last 5 years however, people have opted for clear braces to correct their crowded mouth.

As a preferred Invisalign provider for the UK, and with over 15 years’ experience in cosmetic dentistry, Dr Raj Kumar is committed to making his patients smile. After qualifying at Guys Dental Hospital in 1989, he joined a Birmingham dental practice
and moved quickly through the ranks to become a partner in 1993. And he soon discovered that this was where his interest truly lay.

With his interest in aesthetics taking hold, Raj started to explore the options open to him, keen to be the best he could be within his field, and to offer his patients the most up-to-the-minute and effective treatments. In 1996 he set up a centre for tooth whitening, to wide acclaim, and in 2000 he opened Forma Dental Care in Harley Street, where he practises today.

For more information about Raj Kumar visit http://www.forma86.com/