Unless you had the good fortune or the good genes to be born beautiful, you are probably like the rest of us when it comes to appraising your appearance. In our society, physical beauty has a value and this is reflected in the astounding salaries paid to movie stars, models, TV personalities and other performers. Unfortunately, we measure our appearance by the same standards, and when we come up short, we look for ways to bridge the difference. A major physical feature that commands attention is our teeth, since a straight, white and complete smile is very attractive.

If you are fortunate enough to live in or around Bundaberg and your teeth need attention, Michael Frey Dental is eager to assist. Not only does Michael have years of experience in the full range of standard dental techniques, he also offers specialist services in cosmetic dentistry. Having a cosmetic dental practice close to home has been a boon for the citizens of Bundaberg, who in the past may have needed to travel to bigger population centres to access these services.

A consultation with Michael about the appearance of your teeth is never a hurried affair. Longer consultation times are the norm for Michael and his staff. They believe that by taking the time to listen to their patients to fully understand their situation, they can help the person make the best decision on their dental health for them as an individual. No treatment is ever forced onto a patient, and costs are discussed up front, rather than handing them a bill after the work has been done.

While conscious of the cost of cosmetic dentistry, Michael Frey Dental also understands the loss of confidence and distress people can experience when they know their smile is spoilt by crooked, discoloured or rotten teeth or by large gaps left by extractions. In consultation with the patient Michael will work out the best cosmetic dentistry options to improve the smile, discuss the spacing of appointments and payment options. The benefits to the patient far outweigh the cost, and people who have held themselves back from work or social opportunities because they were embarrassed by their teeth have been amazed at the difference it has made to their overall quality of life.

The most common cosmetic dentistry procedures performed by dentists Bundaberg are crowns, veneers, bonding, whitening and removing old, silver amalgam fillings and replacing them with composite resin which makes them virtually invisible. Crowns are caps that are permanently bonded above the gum line to your own teeth, becoming the new surface. They are used to strengthen teeth and to repair broken or decayed teeth, and once in place, look just like natural teeth. Veneers are different in that they are a thin layer of porcelain-like material that bonds to the front of the tooth to correct discolouration that has not responded to whitening, and to even out chipped teeth or narrow gaps between teeth.

Bonding is a slightly different procedure suitable for chipped, cracked or oddly shaped teeth. A hard resin is applied to the area, then sculpted, hardened and polished to resemble natural tooth enamel. The other most common treatment requested is whitening which involves the use of bleaches to remove staining from food and drink that accumulates over time. Not every person is suitable for whitening treatments as the overall health of the gum itself must be assessed and this should only be done by a dental professional like Michael Frey.

Whichever cosmetic dentistry procedure you decide to undertake to improve your smile, you will be delighted with the end result. It seems a cliché to say that smiles open doors, but in our society the ability to create a favorable first impression can mean the difference between instant success and a long, hard grind. Rightly or wrongly, a dazzling smile is a powerful weapon in establishing credibility, and Michael Frey Dental is the place to go to get one.

Dentists these days generally get a bad rap and for no other reason than the leftover memories and anxieties of previous times when the technology was basic and the pain relief almost non-existent. Nowhere is this more evident than in discussing the procedure known to the lay population as a root canal. Most people really have no idea what is involved other than drilling further than any drill has gone before, and therein is the problem. It’s like anything else that people don’t really understand and have little information about. They fear it for no good reason, and the only way to allay those fears is to explain exactly what a root canal entails.

Inside each tooth is pulp and nerve tissue. The pulp serves a number of very important purposes, one of which is to nourish the tooth structure and keep it hydrated. This makes the tooth more resilient and better able to exert pressure while chewing on hard items without causing the tooth to break. Sometimes the dental pulp itself can become infected especially if the tooth is decaying or cracking. This causes extreme pain and requires the dental pulp to be cleaned out.

The proper name for this procedure is an endodontic therapy, or as it is commonly known, a root canal treatment. The procedure begins with the dentist taking an x-ray to establish the location of the infection. Next, an anaesthetic is administered in just the same way as a normal filling. This numbs the tooth and the surrounding area, allowing the dentist to drill a hole to access the infected pulp inside the tooth. This is then removed and the cavity scraped with small files until it is clean, then it is flushed out with water to remove any remaining source of infection.

The cavity is sealed with a paste and rubber mixture, and a crown placed on the top of the tooth to protect the tooth and restore its shape. The procedure is no more uncomfortable than a normal filling since both are performed using anaesthetic. The other thing to remember is that the nerve tissue is dead which is why the root canal Bundaberg is being done, so there is nothing alive inside the tooth to cause pain. Often, performing this procedure can actually save the tooth from a complete extraction which only becomes necessary when the condition is not caught quickly enough, and there is no alternative but to remove the tooth completely.

The treatment can be expensive, but if the tooth is in a prominent position that is exposed when the patient smiles or laughs, it is a much better alternative than having a large gap. Root canals can save damaged or infected teeth so don’t suffer toothache any longer. Get along to your dentist to see if a root canal can save your tooth.