Understanding the Different Dental Terms
I’m sure you’ve heard all the terms. Cosmetic dentist, restorative dentist, aesthetic dentist. A lot of confusing terms about dentistry, and a lot of patients wonder what’s the difference. Is one better than the other? Why are there so many different terms? Well, I’m here to explain the differences just like you’re one of my patients.
I’m Dr. Brett Langston. I’m a prosthodontist and owner at Dental Implant Aesthetic Specialist here in Brookhaven, Georgia. And I’m here to help you watch your mouth.
What Is Cosmetic Dentistry?
So, cosmetic dentistry is basically anything in the mouth that’s focused on pretty much the front teeth, what I call the smile zone. So, your top six to eight, sometimes even 10 teeth, and your bottom six to eight teeth. These are the ones that you see when you smile and talk and interact.
A lot of times, cosmetic dentistry is focused on not necessarily fixing something that’s broken or damaged. It’s more so about improving your appearance by maximizing the aesthetics of your smile. So, cosmetic dentistry to me is anything that makes your teeth straighter, whiter, anything that really improves your smile. And technically, all dentists are capable of doing cosmetic dentistry.
What Is Restorative Dentistry?
Restorative dentistry to me is more about restoring the function and capability of your mouth. So that involves broken down teeth, missing teeth, misaligned teeth. Basically, it’s all about getting the teeth back to a nice healthy functional area.
And there’s a lot of different ways to do that, whether it’s through implantes, corona y bridge work, even removable appliances that allow the mouth to kind of reorient itself back to a healthy functioning status. So, anytime you have a broken down tooth, a missing tooth, a tooth that’s not allowing your mouth to function properly, anything in that category really falls in the restorative category.
Why the Two Often Overlap
Now, unfortunately, this is where it gets tricky because you can do restorative work and make it look really cosmetic. And so, I think that’s where a lot of the confusion comes in.
But generally speaking, for me, if it’s only to make it look better, I put it in the cosmetic category. If it’s to make it function better, I put it in the restorative category.
How We Approach Treatment in Our Practice
So, at our practice, we really specialize in both restorative and cosmetic because a lot of times patients may come in and say, I really don’t like the way my front teeth look. They’re really short. My bite is really collapsed.
And at first glance, it may look like, okay, we can just do some crowns or veneers and make the smile look really nice. But if you don’t look at the whole picture and realize there may be missing teeth in the back or their bite may be off, and that’s what’s causing those front teeth to break down, then you have a problem.
Because you can make something look nice short term. But the way I always tell my patients is I can’t build you this beautiful house without a great foundation first.
The Importance of a Strong Foundation
So a lot of times we get patients that had the house built, but it’s built on a shaky foundation. And so for us, we always start with the restorative phase and make sure everything is strong and sturdy.
Then we make sure in the process of making everything look really cosmetic that we support that restorative phase. So a lot of patients ask, why does this take so much longer? Why is it more involved?
And that’s a great question, but to do it right means it’s going to last a lot longer. If you try and cut corners in dentistry especially, you’re going to end up redoing things every couple years, which in the long run costs a lot more time and money.
Our Philosophy of Care
My main passion is to make sure my patients are comfortable with their bite. Make sure they can function really well. Make sure the whole mouth works as a whole, but also at the same time are really happy with the way their smile looks.
The main focus at our office is to make sure our patients can chew well, make sure they can function, make sure they can speak, make sure they can eat hot and cold, and anything they want to eat while at the same time they’re really proud of their beautiful smile.
So, you should never have to choose between a mouth that functions well and a mouth that looks really nice. Every patient deserves, and we can provide, the combination of those two. A mouth that functions well and looks great.
Red Flags to Watch For
One of the biggest red flags that I would recommend avoiding in a dental office is an office that pushes whitening really hard, pushes veneers really hard without making sure first of all that your mouth is comfortable, making sure you’re not in pain, and making sure that your mouth is functioning correctly.
Because while veneers are great, bleaching is great, they all have a place, and a lot of patients do them and we do a lot of that. The most important thing is to make sure you’re not doing that at a sacrifice of the overall health of the mouth.
How We Evaluate Before Cosmetic Work
Here at Dental Implant and Aesthetic Specialist, every reconstrucción bucal completa, every aesthetic case, honestly every major crown or bridge work, we always start with X-rays.
And what those do, they allow us to see underneath and inside of the teeth to make sure there’s no underlying issues that are going to cause problems down the road.
Once we determine that your mouth is healthy and there’s no underlying issues, then we can proceed with the aesthetic work, the crowns, the veneers, stuff to make your smile look amazing. But first, we have to make sure that your mouth is healthy and can handle the future work.
Reflexiones finales
So, if you’re someone who wants a beautiful smile, but also wants to make sure that it’s done right and everything’s done correctly and the rest of your mouth is still going to function really well so you can eat, chew, hot and cold foods, basically any diet you want while having a beautiful smile, click on the link below, come see us. I’d love to meet you and talk to you about your options.
Soy el Dr. Brett Langston. Estoy aquí para ayudarte a cuidar tu boca.
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