Has age crept up on you?

Have your teeth suddenly become old-looking?
After decades of biting, chewing, and serving as the gateway to the rest of your body, your teeth may finally be showing wear and tear that you can’t just brush away. You might consider investing in anti-aging dentistry for a smile makeover to enhance your smile. Unlike a diet or makeover that lasts temporarily, anti-aging dentistry is a long lasting investment that can improve your appearance and your self-confidence.

At Anacapa Dental Art Institute, we know that enhancing smiles is not just a matter of vanity or appearance. A beautiful smile reflects your personality and helps you communicate more effectively with others. Changing your smile can change your quality of life and dental veneers is the best option to choose from many other options available.

Among the many cosmetic dental techniques that cosmetic dentists use to shape beautiful smiles, porcelain veneers are one of the most popular and effective.

Porcelain veneers are thin pieces of porcelain that are shaped and bonded to the front surface of your teeth. If you want a more youthful smile, dental veneers can help enlarge small teeth, straighten crowded teeth, cover tooth damage, and whiten dull teeth for a striking new look. The best part about porcelain veneers is that you can have your new smile without any drilling or lengthy recovery time. With a Dr. Saj Jivraj at Anacapa Dental Art Institute, Oxnard, you can help select the size, shape, and color for your smile makeover.

Age Is Just a Number When It Comes to a Smile Makeover

As it turns out, it’s not just graying hair and wrinkled skin that can make us look older. Our teeth can also display very obvious signs of aging. Older teeth tend to be duller and darker than young teeth, because their translucent enamel covering thins over time, allowing more of the yellowish inner tooth material to show through. Thinning enamel can also develop very fine cracks; these may trap food debris, which can cause stains.

Older teeth also tend to be shorter and flatter than younger teeth from decades of wear. Over time, the teeth (particularly the two in front) can become worn down, and their small natural ridges get smoothed out, making them appear blockier. If the teeth get a lot shorter, the lips may start to sag inward slightly because of a lack of support. Lips tend to sag downward a bit with age anyway, meaning that the top lip may end up covering more of the front teeth over time. If the lip covers the teeth completely, a person can appear toothless – not exactly a youthful look!

Dental Veneers Will Take Years Off  Your Face

Gravity isn’t the only force working against your face. As you age, your teeth tend to pull in toward your tongue, taking away support from your lips and cheeks and giving them a sunk-in  appearance, allowing for excessive wrinkling and an exaggerated sagging appearance of the cheeks and skin around the mouth. One way to  remedy this is to consider veneer teeth.

Dental veneers were designed to solve these issues. Veneers can be made slightly longer and whiter than your natural teeth to give them a more youthful look. The high-tech porcelains in use today have a remarkable lifelike quality, and can be created in a variety of natural-looking shades. Perhaps the best thing about dental veneers is that they don’t stain the way natural tooth surfaces do.

Making It Through the Porcelain Veneer Procedure

To determine if you are a candidate for dental veneers, your dentist will schedule a preliminary consultation during which your oral health will be evaluated and all available treatment options discussed. (Most dentists prefer to offer patients the most minimally invasive options.) Treatment involving tooth preparation is irreversible, so it is important that your dentist discuss any alternatives that provide the same results but with minimal to no removal of tooth structure. If you and your dentist at Anacapa Dental Art Institute, Oxnard, Ventura decide that veneers are the best option, the next step involves a thorough review of treatment details, including preparing your teeth for your specific veneer procedure and what will be necessary for them to look and fit correctly

The Procedure usually takes two visits.

Dr. Jivraj may first need to remove some surface enamel from your teeth (about the same thickness as the veneer itself—a fingernail-sized sliver) so that the veneers do not add too much bulk when they are permanently attached.

Once this preparation is complete, Dr. Jivraj will create a model of your mouth, either digitally or with a putty-like impression material. This model will be craft in our onsite dental laboratory so technicians can create veneers for you that will look and fit exactly right. You will receive temporary veneers to wear until your permanent ones come back from the lab. When your final veneers are ready, you will come in to have them permanently cemented or bonded to your teeth.

Take Good Care of Your New Smile

Care must be taken not to abuse veneers because the thin porcelain shells or composite layers can be damaged or break.

Your dentist may advise you against certain uses or dietary tendencies (such as eating carrots) and may recommend you wear a protective appliance while sleeping, especially if you are a bruxer.

How Much Do Veneers Cost?

Porcelain veneers are more expensive than the indirect or direct composite resin alternative. Traditional porcelain veneers cost between $925 and $2,500 per tooth but can last 10 to 15 years. Composite veneers cost approximately $250 to $1500 per tooth and may last between five and seven years.

Generally speaking, the cost of dental veneers depends on many factors, including:

  • The fees of the cosmetic dentist performing the procedure.
  • The artistic and technical skill of the ceramist making the veneers and the cosmetic dentist who places them.
  • The location where treatment is performed. Costs for cosmetic dentistry procedures vary widely by region of the country, specifically from large metropolitan areas to smaller towns.
  • The type of dental insurance you have. Dental insurance typically does not cover cosmetic procedures.
  • The material used. Porcelain is more expensive than indirect or direct composite resin.
  • The number of teeth being treated.

At Anacapa Dental Art Institute we offer affordable payment plans for cosmetic and restorative dental procedures. Ask our front staff about financing options. We offer third-party financing through companies like CareCredit, Lending Club. Qualified candidates can work with a financing company to develop a monthly payment plan to fit their budget.

About Your Oxnard, CA Cosmetic Dentist:

We look forward to providing families with exceptional care and advanced treatment options. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Jivraj contact our Oxnard, CA, dental office today by calling 805-800-8289. Our office welcomes patients in and around Oxnard, CA, including Santa Barbara, Woodland Hills, Ventura, and the surrounding Southern California communities.

Our Team Looks Forward to Welcoming You to

Anacapa Dental Art Institute

We’re proud to help everyone achieve the smile of their dreams. We’re located in Oxnard and serve the surrounding communities including Santa Barbara, Ventura, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Woodland Hills, Simi Valley, Calabasas, Port Hueneme, Malibu, and Westlake Village.