How Can I Improve My Smile?

The way your teeth look when you grin says a lot about you. People make snap judgments about your age, your health, your attention to hygiene, and even your work ethic based on the appearance of your teeth. 

If a quick look in the mirror has you wondering what you can do to improve your smile, we’re here to let you know you have many options.

Dr. Brian LaBombard at Airport Dental Care in Austin, Texas, and our team of dental professionals are passionate about healthy teeth and magnificent smiles. Whether you have one small issue you need to correct or a whole mouthful of problems, we can get you started on a treatment plan to dramatically improve your best feature.

Start with good dental hygiene

This may seem like a section you want to skip over to get to the “good” part, but your daily hygiene routine makes a big difference in the health of your teeth — and it shows. 

For instance, if you’re not brushing twice a day and flossing once a day, you likely have plaque building up on your teeth. That makes your teeth look dull and dingy. 

If that plaque has been sitting there for a while because you’ve neglected your regular teeth cleanings, then bacteria may have begun to cause cavities, tooth decay, and gum disease, giving you red, swollen gums and bad breath.

Start with a good foundation of a healthy routine at home and a commitment to regular preventive check-ups, X-rays, and cleanings, and you’ll be way ahead of the game.

Professional teeth whitening

You know what wine does to a white shirt and how working with berries and beets colors your fingertips. These everyday foods and drinks can do the same thing to your teeth. Coffee, tea, wine, tobacco, and any food or beverage with deep, intense colors can stain your teeth beyond what your toothbrush can handle. 

For this, Dr. LaBombard uses GLO® Science™, a unique professional teeth whitening system that relies on the power of guided light optics (GLO) to gently heat and activate the specially formulated solution of 30% hydrogen peroxide. It’s quick, safe, and effective for clearing away unsightly stains. 

Veneers

If chipped or cracked teeth are wrecking your smile, veneers provide the perfect cover. Made of porcelain that matches your natural tooth color, veneers are like shells that adhere to the outer surface of your tooth for a permanent bond that lasts for years. 

Veneers can solve other problems too, like teeth that are misshapen, too small, or discolored so deeply that even professional teeth whitening systems can’t reach the stain, which can happen with certain medications.

Straightening

If you’re an adult living with crooked teeth, perhaps you got to this point because the idea of wearing metal brackets and wires in your mouth seems worse than showing off your misaligned teeth.

Now, however, new technologies have made it possible to fix your crooked teeth without the embarrassing hardware.

Here at Airport Dental Care, we offer ClearCorrect™ clear aligners — removable trays that snap on and off your teeth at your convenience. You keep them on all day and night, except when you eat, drink, and brush your teeth. And because they’re clear, no one knows you're wearing them. It’s a painless, fast, dignified way to straighten your teeth. 

Implants

Missing teeth are arguably one of the worst problems your mouth can face. If you flash a gap every time you smile, you send a message to the world, and that message may not even closely resemble the truth. Nevertheless, people judge.

If that gap makes you self-conscious and causes you to smile less or not at all, it could lead to unwanted consequences like isolation and depression.

And that’s just the cosmetic part of the problem; missing teeth cause physical problems too. When there’s an empty space in your row of teeth, the neighboring teeth tend to shift, and you end up with a misaligned bite. 

The open area also provides the perfect landing spot for roaming bacteria looking for a place to set up shop. 

And finally, your lost tooth means that your jawbone won’t receive much-needed pressure every time you chew, so you may suffer bone loss.

Fortunately, Dr. LaBombard offers dental implants to solve the problem. He starts by securing a titanium post in your jawbone. He then places an abutment at the top of the post, and a crown on top of that. 

Over time, your bone tissue will grow around the post, which serves as the new “root” for your new tooth. Dental implants are the gold standard for treating missing teeth.

Where to go to improve your smile

Whether you’re experiencing one or all of these common smile wreckers, Dr. LaBombard can help. Contact us at our Austin, Texas, office or book an appointment online today.