Dentistry is always changing as new technological breakthroughs enter the clinics, offering patients quicker, easier and more effective treatment. Adults surveyed revealed that when it comes to attractiveness, their smiles come second place in importance. In recent years the number of people receiving dental cosmetic treatment has risen massively. Here we look at the latest trends in this field of dentistry:
Teeth Whitening
This has become one of the most popular treatments as in terms of cosmetic improvements, its one of the easiest and cheapest to achieve. Some dentists offer the more powerful bleaching where a light is shone onto the tooth to activate the whitening ingredient. Remember that nobody other than a dentist, a hygienist or therapist with a dental prescription can offer this procedure so be wary of others offering such treatments. For General dentistry Leicester, visit http://www.sjrdental.co.uk
Choosier Patients
Patients are becoming far more demanding and pickier about service levels and what they spend their money on, treating health and oral care like any other consumer purchase. Patients are also much more likely to spend time researching conditions and options online and checking out dental clinic reviews making private dentistry a highly competitive field.
Veneers
Gone are the days of uncomfortable and unsightly metal braces. Today, adults can enjoy small amounts of tooth realignment in about six months with a relatively non-invasive set of treatment. It may have been celebrities who made the treatment popular but now its available to anyone looking to lessen gaps between teeth, straighten out crookedness and deal with discolouration. Technology has improved veneers so they are now thinner than ever, look natural and if cared for well, can last between ten to fifteen years.
Lasers
It sounds very futuristic but lasering has already become possible to enhance cosmetic procedures. If a patient has uneven gums then using a laser to reshape them can give them better proportion in relation to the teeth. The procedure requires a local anaesthetic but only takes about one hour for the dentist to reshape and reseal the gum line.
3D Tooth Printing
This is one of the most exciting innovations for the future of dentistry with 3D printers providing the very real possibility of fast tooth creation. Replacement teeth could be produced quickly, printing layer on layer of natural-looking and perfectly-fitting teeth for the patient. The current challenge to overcome is seeing how the 3D printed teeth fare when placed in the oral cavity surrounded by all the microbes found in the mouth.
Whole Person Care
No longer is dentistry solely concerned with matters of oral health. Whilst this remains an essential part of the job, there is more of a focus on the psychological welfare of the patient as well. There has been growing understanding that fixing a smile is so much more than vanity but affects how a person interacts socially, their levels of self-esteem and confidence and even their professional prospects. The approximate size of the cosmetic dentistry industry is 2 billion and current figures put the number of British people having undergone cosmetic dentistry at 25% of the population.