We’re taught from an early age to take good care of our oral health. Dental health is the key to our overall health and when it’s off we can often end up with other health problems. The way that this is seen is through our smiles. When teeth are not taken care of, then the result is a smile that you wish to hide until you can find a way to improve your smile.
This also affects mental health since it can also cause low self-esteem. Rotten teeth or cavities can seriously affect the quality of your life and end up leaving you isolated. The key is to get your oral health back on track and then work on improving your smile. In this article, we will go over several things you can do to improve your smile.
1. Get them whitened
Sometimes your poor smile is not a result of bad oral health but because your teeth are stained. People who drink a lot of black coffee are especially vulnerable to their teeth getting stained. The same goes for smokers and people who drink a lot of tea. Regardless of the reason for the staining, it can impact your smile and cause embarrassment.
If you’re searching how to remove tea stains from teeth and need a quick remedy, then you can get strips from the pharmacy. These strips are put on at night and work while you sleep. If you use them in conjunction with a whitening toothpaste, then you should see some improvements in a few weeks.
One thing to keep in mind is that some of the whitening toothpaste on the market can end up stripping some of the enamel off of your teeth along with the stain. This could end up causing you to have problems such as cavities and weak teeth.
You can also go to a dentist and have them do a whitening treatment for you. This is going to be the most gentle on your teeth since they use light treatment that doesn’t strip the enamel off of your teeth.
2. Get braces
Braces serve two essential needs when it comes to your smile. The most obvious is that they straighten your teeth and give you a nicer-looking smile. There is more than just aesthetics involved, however.
Wearing braces will align your teeth and this will allow them to stay healthier. When teeth push up against each other there is a much higher chance that they will get cavities or infections. By wearing braces, you are allowing your teeth the space they need to avoid that.
Crooked teeth will cause some embarrassment for people and even low self-esteem based on how crooked they are. Unfortunately, it is embarrassing for some people to wear braces and they fear getting made fun of. It is also difficult to get used to.
Luckily there are invisible braces available so you can avoid being embarrassed while you wait for your teeth to get aligned.
3. Get crowns or veneers
There are some people who have straight teeth but their smile is still off. It can be because your teeth are chipped or that some are discolored to the point that they can’t be whitened. In either case, you can improve your smile by essentially covering the tooth up.
There are covers called crowns and veneers that are made to essentially cap the tooth. Crowns are good when you have a chipped tooth as they fit over the top usually. A veneer is good when you have discolored teeth as they fit over the tooth and attach to the enamel.
There is a bonus in that the teeth that are capped or crowned are going to be strengthened. If you have a cracked tooth or a chip then this can end up causing a cavity or infection. In some cases, a discolored tooth can end up cracking and will need to be extracted. In either of these scenarios, you can save the tooth by capping it and prolonging the life of the tooth without it needing to be removed.
4. Limit the staining
Now that you have learned how to improve your smile and taken some steps to do so, you should work on keeping it that way. It is important to limit the intake of red wine, coffee, and tea to make sure that the teeth don’t get stained again. This is especially important if you have crowns or veneers as they will always stay the original color and will look odd against darker teeth.