Cosmetic Dentistry
At Keely Lawson DDS, in Lancaster, we believe that each of our patients deserves a smile they can be proud of. And the first step to that goal is to achieve good oral health.
Any patient needs to be healthy first. Then we can make them beautiful through art. It would be a disservice and a violation of trust to do any "cosmetic" anything before our patients are first of all healthy.
Our ultimate goal is a natural, healthy, beautiful smile for each and every one of our patients.
A clean, healthy mouth and beautiful smile can be your best assets. Our practice offers a wide a variety of cosmetic dentistry procedures, including tooth whitening, veneers and crowns, and we are devoted to giving you the dazzling results you want and deserve.
We invite you to learn more about the cosmetic dentistry procedures offered by Dr. Lawson and then contact us at (972) 227-5444 to schedule a cosmetic dentistry consultation.
we believe that each of our patients deserves a smile they can be proud of.-Dr. Keely Lawson DDS
Crowns, also called caps, are natural-looking and can whiten badly discolored teeth. They also repair and strengthen cracked, injured, or chipped teeth. Crowns minimize physical discomfort from damaged teeth. Ultimately, crowns can improve the overall appearance of your smile while helping to prevent your teeth from breaking.
A crown is a durable cap of hard material shaped like a tooth. It fits over the top of your existing tooth and is glued into place. Crowns fully cover the entire visible portion of a tooth above the gum line and are commonly made of tooth-colored porcelain, ceramic, or resin.
In addition to improving strength, size, and appearance, crowns are the ideal way to,
- Protect a weak tooth from breaking
- Hold a cracked tooth together
- Put a new surface on a badly chipped or broken tooth
- Protect a tooth that has been weakened by a large filling
- Hold a dental bridge in place (a dental bridge spans a gap where a tooth is missing)
- Cover the misshapen or irreparably discolored tooth
Ceramic and porcelain crowns look like natural teeth. The color is selected to match the nearby teeth in your mouth so the crown blends in perfectly—particularly important with front teeth.
Crowns normally require two visits and generally last up to 15 years depending on how well you take care of them. To preserve dental work, don’t bite fingernails, chew hard objects (like ice, pens, or pencils), and don’t use your teeth to open packages.
For more information about crowns, please contact us today.
Everyone wants to have good-looking white teeth. In many cases, teeth whitening can get you there. But whitening only removes stains. It cannot change the basic color of a tooth. Additionally, not everyone was born with great-looking teeth. Or they might have suffered a tooth injury or problem. The good news is you can still get a “movie star smile” if you want and you can do it the way many movie stars do — with porcelain veneers. Veneers can enhance your smile,
- closing spaces between teeth,
- straightening crooked teeth,
- whitening stained teeth,
- hiding chips,
- and creating uniformity.
Porcelain veneers are fingernail-thin covers of tooth-colored porcelain or a resin composite that are molded to fit your teeth and make up for any inequities in your natural appearance. They are permanently bonded to the front of each tooth to give you nearly perfect form, size, and color and can last up to 10 years.
Veneers are not just glued into place — doing so would give an abnormally thick tooth that would not look natural. To compensate for the thickness (about half a millimeter or 1/50th of an inch) of the veneers, we first remove a correspondingly thin layer from the front surface of each tooth. Porcelain veneers are thicker and so require more tooth surface removal. However, on the plus side, porcelain is more stain-resistant and better mimics the translucence and reflectivity of natural teeth. Since they are thinner, resin composites enable you to keep more of your natural tooth surface.
Every front tooth you have does not necessarily need veneers. In fact, if you only have one tooth that does not meet your expectations, we can fix that single tooth and make it match the rest of your teeth.
Once in place, veneers require no special care beyond normal brushing, flossing, and cleaning. The actual veneer itself is immune to tooth decay so can never get a cavity.
Veneers offer many benefits not the least of which is a natural tooth appearance. In fact, veneers are very difficult if not impossible for the average person to distinguish from real teeth. Gum tissue has a high tolerance for porcelain veneers. However, veneers are not recommended for people with gum disease, structurally weakened teeth, or teeth with very thin enamel coatings.
But, as with anything, there are potential risks. While veneers are stain-resistant, they are not stained proof. And because a front surface layer of each tooth has to be removed to make room for the veneers, the process is not reversible. If they chip or crack, veneers must be replaced. Because some enamel must be removed, your teeth may be subsequently more sensitive to hot or cold. As well, since the veneer only covers the front area of the tooth, the bottom, sides, and back area of the tooth not covered by the veneers can remain susceptible to cavities.
If you are a person that bites their nails or chews on pencils or ice, or if you clench or grind your teeth in your sleep, you should not get veneers since biting on hard objects can occasionally make them a chip or come off (though this problem is not common).
If you plan on whitening your teeth, you should do so before you get any type of cosmetic dental product, since the product will be matched to the color of your existing teeth. Once installed in your mouth, the color of a veneer cannot be changed.
There’s another reason movie stars get veneers while normal people get whitening. Because veneers are tailor-made in a lab to custom fit your teeth they are more expensive and can cost for one tooth what whitening alone costs for a whole mouth.
Sometimes veneers are covered by insurance, but oftentimes they are not. We can help find out the extent of your coverage when you come in.
Three to four visits are required to install veneers. You can then walk away with a dramatically improved smile thanks to having the gleaming white teeth you’ve dreamed of. Instead of being self-conscious when people look at your teeth, you can be proud and flash them a dazzling white smile.
To learn more about veneers or to find out if they are right for you, please contact our office.
If you have one or more missing teeth, the gaps can be bridged.
A dental bridge spans the gap where a tooth is missing. It is anchored to the two teeth on either side of the gap from the missing tooth.
Each anchoring tooth will receive a crown that supports the artificial tooth (called a pontic) in the center that will now fill the gap. The crowns and pontic can be made of various materials. And if you are missing more than one tooth, it is possible to bridge a wider gap. A properly installed bridge can enable you to,
- Regain a beautiful smile
- Properly fill out your face and cheeks
- Stop existing teeth leaning or drifting into the missing gap
- Makes eating much easier
- Recover the functionality of teeth to speak and chew
- Properly share bite pressure across a full set of teeth
- Improve speaking ability and pronunciations
The lifespan of a dental bridge can be as long as 15 or even 20 years in some cases. The longevity of course is improved by good oral hygiene habits and regular checkups. It is particularly to take care of your abutting teeth that anchor your bridgework. But with normal brushing and flossing, plus periodic visits for teeth cleaning and examination, that is all that is required.
Dental bonding is the application of a durable composite resin (plastic) that is expertly color-matched to your teeth. This dental bonding material has the consistency of soft putty before it is cured so it easily fills gaps and spaces. Once applied, the resin is cured with a special ultraviolet light. The light both hardens and bonds the resin material to your teeth. It is then further trimmed down, shaped, and polished to blend flawlessly with the translucence and reflectivity of the remaining tooth. In the end, no one can tell where the tooth ends and resin begins. It just looks like a normal tooth.
Normally used for smaller problem areas, the entire dental bonding procedure can be completed in a single visit. That makes it ideal for the correction of many dental issues including,
- cavities in front teeth
- to fill in corrosion or decay at the root level
- chipped or cracked teeth
- discolored teeth
- gaps between teeth
- to elongate teeth
- change tooth shape
- replace metal fillings
Unless the bonding is being used to fill a cavity, anesthesia may not even be needed since the procedure is painless. Dental bonding is super fast, often requiring as little as 30 to 60 minutes, and is among the least expensive cosmetic dentistry techniques.
First, the colors of resin and tooth are matched using an enamel shade guide. Then the surface of the tooth will be roughened up a little and a conditioning liquid applied to help the material bond at a molecular level.
No special care is required for a tooth that has been repaired with dental bonding, just normal flossing and brushing twice a day. Dental bonding is stain resistant, but not stain-proof. So normal oral hygiene practices will keep them looking great.
Though not as strong as porcelain veneers or crowns, dental bonding normally works well on front teeth, especially because bite pressure is low. However, if you bite your nails or chew objects like pencils or pens, or use your front teeth to open packages or bottles, you may chip or break the dental bonding material. If this ever happens the tooth will feel rough or sharp and you will have to return to the dentist for a touch-up. Otherwise, dental bonding can last up to 10 years before needing to be replaced.
Teeth whitening is one of the most affordable methods to quickly and dramatically improve your image. How white can whitening get your teeth? A safe estimate is slightly whiter than the whites of your eyes.
After using several methods, we believe the most effective whitening procedure is Phillips Zoom Whitening which is done at our practice.
Zoom Whitening is the #1 patient who requested professional whitening treatment. In fact, over 10 million patients have already used Zoom to achieve brighter, healthier smiles.
Zoom Whitening is not only proven to whiten teeth up to eight shades, but it’s also safe. While other whitening products can harm teeth and gums, using Zoom Whitening with its special ingredients actually gives you greater luster and protects enamel.
Zoom Whitening is only available at a dentist’s office to ensure optimum safety and comes in different treatment types and strengths to fit your lifestyle and sensitivity.
Only dental professionals have access to the professional-strength whitening of Zoom. So, when it comes to whitening, Dr. Keely Lawson is your best resource.
Your smile is the way you greet the world. Why not put your best self forward with the confidence of a more beautiful smile?