speaking HOW TO AVOID TEETH LOOKING OLDER THAN YOU ARE!
Dr. Preety Desai There are 3 main factors playing a role in ageing your teeth: the colour and staining of the enamel and dentin beneath, the shape and angles of the tooth edges, and finally the texture and fracture lines evident over time. Veneers and crowns are commonly sought after, soon after “bleaching” one’s teeth in order to create more whiteness and brilliance like in Hollywood magazines or TV shows to mimic youth and freshness. What you must realize is that you MUST not choose the whitest tooth colour for veneers; as the teeth must look natural in your mouth and the teeth are also a reflection of your surrounding lips, facial pigments. So when your dentist is trying to “choose colours of your veneers/crowns” go with their advice for a more natural look as opposed to a chiclet look! More commonly visible to everyone else and not necessarily yourself personally is that worn front teeth are a dead give away to add years or decades to your chronological age. When you want to change this, you can’t just add length back to JUST your front teeth but rather front teeth wearing down is a sign of a bigger problem…your back teeth wearing! This definitely has to be dealt with in a methodical, logical and ethical approach. Back teeth can be incrementally built up slowly with white composite plastic a bit at a time at a very reasonable cost in order to create the back tooth support which will entail support the front teeth to be built up with the same or with crowns/veneers. Finally the most subtle but critical give away of “old” teeth are those fine vertical fracture lines existing on mainly the front teeth but also possible on back teeth. Dentists call these “craze” lines which are the beginnings of stress fractures on teeth from overloading forces. Yes clenching and bruxing whether past, present or in the future…who knows. It does not matter, this means you will have to discuss a guard or a splint with your dentist at some point. This splint is an insurance policy. Better to put biting stresses on a piece of plastic and replace that as opposed to your teeth or veneers. Just remember, everyone clenches or grinds at some point in their life…. studies have shown it is not stress related but rather a habitual thing or focused attention. So get a night guard! These 3 factors are easily diagnosed and treated and preventive work is the key!
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