Enamel Shaping for Quick and Easy Makeovers

Many cosmetic dental procedures can create dramatic improvements to our smiles. But the placement of crowns, veneers and dental implants may not fit your budget or time constraints. For simpler makeovers, enamel shaping may suffice especially if your teeth are only slightly crowded or uneven. The process involves a contouring of your natural teeth (i.e., no need to form impression molds or fabricate artificial tooth coverings). As a result, shaping is one of the fastest and most painless procedures used for smile enhancements.

It may be used to correct the look of misshapen, oversized, rough, crooked, chipped or overlapping teeth. In addition to correcting small imperfections (e.g., smoothing rough edges), shaping is used to make small adjustments to the size and shape of eye teeth that may appear too long. In essence, small chips in your teeth, as well as jagged or rough edges, can be shaped by moving or "contouring" the enamel. The damaged or misshapen teeth can then be aligned with the rest of your mouth for a more balanced appearance. Beside its inherent cosmetic effects, enamel shaping can improve your overall dental health by removing minor crevices or overlaps that are prone to plaque buildup. What's more, the smoothing of your teeth makes them easier to clean.

This procedure is normally performed in one visit, so results are noticed immediately. With only a small amount of enamel removed, no healing is involved and you can generally eat immediately after the procedure. Moreover, since enamel shaping does not impact any living parts of the tooth, the treatment is usually administered without anesthetic.

The treatment begins with the contouring of front surface enamel into a more attractive shape. In some cases, there may be imperfections between your teeth requiring us to shape and smooth the side surfaces of the tooth as well. Once they are adequately reshaped, edges of the newly shaped tooth are then smoothed and polished. The procedure normally takes around an hour dependent on the amount of changes required.