As time passes by, your teeth may crack, break or get discoloured. Or perhaps, you might be an unfortunate victim of teeth crowding or some unpleasant spaces between teeth. Although these dental flaws may be perceived by others as minor since they don't damagingly impact on an individual's oral health in many instances, they can have a lasting effect on that individual's self-esteem.

Cosmetic dentists specialize in providing dental services to enhance people's smiles. If you wish to improve how your smile looks, here are a few dental procedures that cosmetic dentists can perform for you.

Dental bonding

Dental bonding, also known as tooth bonding, is perhaps the easiest cosmetic dental procedure to perform. Cosmetic dentists use a composite resin to lighten and harden discoloured, decayed, chipped or fragmented teeth. A special light from an ultraviolet or laser source is used to harden the resin.

In essence, the composite resin is usually shaped and polished to look like the other 'good' teeth. However, you should bear in mind that taking beverages such as tea and coffee or smoking substances such as tobacco before the resin has hardened well can cause staining. Therefore, you should shun such foods, drinks, and substances in the short run.

Teeth whitening

As one becomes older, teeth naturally darken and gradually lose their colour. Staining of teeth, however, may result from the consumption of some foods, drinks or substances such as berries, coffee, tobacco, black tea, and drinking water with excess fluoride quantities. Whitening of darkened, discoloured or stained teeth is one of the most widely-performed dental procedures.

Whether your teeth are losing colour due to the natural process of aging or because of lifestyle factors such as what you consume, a cosmetic dentist can always do something to whiten your teeth and revive your smile. However, teeth whitening solutions vary depending on the condition of a person's teeth.

For instance, a dentist may recommend that you should buy and use a whitening toothpaste at home to effectively remove mild surface stains but may also have to use laser equipment to boost the abrasive effect of a whitening agent during an in-office visit.

Fitting porcelain veneers

When fitted properly, porcelain veneers will not only improve the colour and shape of your teeth, but can leave you with a set of well-arranged teeth as well. A suitable shade of porcelain veneer will be used to give the desired colour to a set of discoloured tooth. The porcelain veneer can also make a fragmented tooth seem whole again.

The veneer may cover the front part of your tooth, with a thicker segment replacing the chipped part. In addition, porcelain veneers can be used to conceal small teeth spacing issues if braces aren't deemed to be appropriate. If a single tooth is a little bit out of place, a veneer can be fitted to realign it with the others.

For more information about these procedure, contact a local dentist.