Cosmetic dentistry is used to describe the type of dental work and treatments that improves a person’s appearance in terms of his/her teeth or smile. Cosmetic dentistry primarily focuses on improvement dental aesthetics in colour, position, shape, size, alignment and overall smile appearance. This includes procedures that change the colour and shape of teeth or that fill in gaps or replace missing teeth. Cosmetic dentistry is not considered an area of specialisation in Australia because all dentists are taught cosmetic dental procedures as part of their undergraduate degree. Cosmetic dentistry procedures are often considered to be a voluntary visit to the dentist because they are usually done at the request of the person for the purpose of changing a person’s appearance, rather than a necessary procedure to treat broken teeth or dental disease. Here is a list of dental procedures that is often considered as cosmetic dentistry:
- Replacement of gold/silver fillings with tooth-coloured fillings
- Bleaching / whitening
- Bonding
- Veneers
- Bridges (not all)
- Crowns (not all)
- Implants (not all)
- Micro-abrasion
- Reshaping or smoothing of the enamel