Veneers | Dentist Cottonwood | Arizona Smile Designers

Veneers in Cottonwood, AZ

At Arizona Smile Designers, we’re committed to providing comprehensive dental care to patients in Cottonwood, Camp Verde, Sedona, Clarkdale, and the Northern Arizona area. We specialize in a variety of treatments ranging from routine cleanings and fillings to dental implants and extractions, dentures, and veneers. Our Cottonwood dentists will ensure the best treatments and services for your dental health.

Brighten Your Smile With Veneers

Our main goal is to help patients smile confidently once again. We do this through a variety of treatments, from general to cosmetic dentistry. Whether you’re experiencing pain related to your mouth or are simply unhappy with the appearance of your teeth, we can help find a solution to your problem and bring your beautiful smile back. One common and effective option we offer to many of our patients is veneers.

What Are Veneers?

A veneer is a thin porcelain covering our Cottonwood dentist uses to cover the outside of an existing tooth. The veneer itself is extremely thin and has the same essential look and feel like the natural enamel of the teeth without the tendency to stain. Technology has advanced far enough that we can make the porcelain thin enough to bond directly onto the tooth. In some cases, a small amount of enamel may need to be removed in order to naturally fit the veneer. If you’re an ideal candidate for veneers, our dentist in Cottonwood will discuss all of the details with you.

Benefits of Veneers

There are many reasons why patients might wish to consider veneers to improve their teeth. Three main ways this treatment can improve your natural teeth include:

Alignment or Spacing: Small gaps in the teeth or slight misalignment can easily be corrected with veneers.
Shape or Size: There are many habits that can cause teeth to wear down and become irregular in shape or size. Veneers can make teeth appear rounder or squarer and are sized to best complement your facial features.
Color: Teeth become discolored over time from eating, drinking, smoking, and even aging. Veneers do not stain the same way natural teeth do, and they come in many different shades for a natural look.

Are Veneers Always the Answer?

Veneers are a great solution to restore the look of the teeth in many situations. However, significant misalignment, large gaps, extreme tooth decay, or serious dental trauma may require other measures to restore full, natural dental function. Our doctors will consult with you to determine if veneers are the right option for you. If not, we will find another effective solution to meet your needs. As the best dental office in Cottonwood, we will ensure the most appropriate dental treatments for your optimal health.

The Process

Our office takes extra care with every procedure. Our process begins with a consultation to determine how you want to change your current smile. Bring in pictures of smiles you like to give us an idea of what you desire your outcome to be. We will discuss different options and can even show you how your veneers are likely to look by using a model or placing the tooth-colored filling on your teeth.

With a plan in place, we will then make molds of your teeth. If any enamel needs to be removed, we will take care of that before making the molds. We then send the molds to a dental lab to create your custom veneers. We’ll place temporary veneers on your teeth in the meantime. After a few weeks, the veneers will arrive and, once we’ve confirmed they are what you want, we will cement them to your teeth.

Veneer Maintenance

New veneers can be cared for just like natural teeth. They need gentle flossing and brushing every day, as well as regular dental checkups. It is important not to use your teeth as tools for opening packages or biting extremely hard foods, especially with veneers on. Our dentist in Cottonwood also may recommend a custom mouthguard if you grind or clench your teeth while sleeping.

Twice a year, you should schedule a routine dental cleaning. During this visit, one of our dental hygienists will remove plaque from your teeth, especially from places where your brush can’t reach, such as underneath the gum line and in-between teeth. We will then clean your teeth and apply fluoride to help protect your teeth once you leave the office.

Fluoride is a relatively recent but important advancement in dental and oral health. Studies consistently show that a moderate but consistent exposure of teeth to fluoride helps strengthen and rebuild tooth structure, and helps prevent future decay.

If you are due for your semi-annual dental cleaning, please call our office to schedule an appointment.

The concept of a “filling” is replacing and restoring your tooth structure that is damaged due to decay or fracture with a material. We will replace old, broken-down amalgam/metal fillings that contain traces of mercury with white fillings (composites) to restore your smile and teeth to a more natural look and feel.

With today’s advancements, no longer will you have to suffer the embarrassment of unsightly and unhealthy silver/mercury fillings or metal margins of the past. Eliminate the dark, black appearance in your teeth with new-age, state-of-the-art, tooth-colored resin or porcelain materials.

Crowns

A crown is a custom-made covering that fits over an original tooth that is either decayed, damaged or cracked. Crowns are made of a variety of different materials such as porcelain, gold, acrylic resin or a mix of these materials. Porcelain generally has the most natural appearance, although it is often less durable.

The treatment plan for a patient receiving a crown involves:

Numbing the tooth to remove the decay in or around it.
Re-sculpturing the tooth to provide an ideal fit for the crown.
Making an impression of your teeth in order to create a custom-made crown (usually takes one to two weeks).
Making a temporary crown out of acrylic resin and fitting it onto the tooth during the interim period when the custom-made crown is being created.
Applying the custom-made crown (when received from the lab) by removing the temporary crown and fitting the custom-made one onto the tooth.
After ensuring that the crown has the proper look and fit, the dentist cements it into place.

This process generally consists of a minimum of two to three visits over a three to four week period. Once the procedure is completed, proper dental hygiene, including daily brushing and flossing, is required to maintain healthy, bacteria-free teeth, gums and crowns. This helps in the prevention of gum disease. Given proper care, your crowns can last a lifetime.

Bridges

A bridge is a dental device that fills a space that a tooth previously occupied. A bridge may be necessary to prevent:

Shifting of the teeth that can lead to bite problems (occlusion) and/or jaw problems and resultant periodontal disease.
Bridges safeguard the integrity of existing teeth and help maintain a healthy, vibrant smile.

There are three main types of bridges, namely:

A fixed bridge is the most popular and consists of a filler tooth that is attached to two crowns, which fit over the existing teeth and hold the bridge in place.
The “Maryland” bridge is commonly used to replace missing front teeth and consists of a filler that is attached to metal bands that are bonded to the abutment teeth. The metal bands consist of a white-colored composite resin that matches existing tooth color.
The cantilever bridge is often used when there are teeth on only one side of the span. A typical three-unit cantilever bridge consists of two crowned teeth positioned next to each other on the same side of the missing tooth space. The filler tooth is then connected to the two crowned teeth, which extend into the missing tooth space or end.

A root canal is a procedure that extracts decayed pulp from the central part of the tooth, reshapes the canal and replaces it with strengthening filler.

A cavity is the result of superficial decay of the enamel of the tooth. Left long enough, this decay can burrow into the deeper reaches of the tooth, causing extensive damage to tooth structure. When the damage goes beyond what can be treated with a filling, dentists can perform a root canal (or endodontics), preserving the tooth and retaining its original integrity; thereby, saving a tooth that in the past would have to have been pulled.

Procedure:

The patient undergoes anesthesia.
A dental dam is used to isolate the tooth.
The tooth is opened to allow for removal of infected or dead dental pulp.
The tooth is comprehensively cleaned, including any cracks and canals.
With special tools, the doctor reshapes the canals.
The tooth is filled again with cutting edge biocompatible filling material.
A temporary covering is used to cover the access opening.
Patients MUST see their regular dentist quickly for a permanent restoration of the tooth.

General Extractions

An extraction is the complete removal of a tooth. Extractions are sometimes necessary if a primary tooth is preventing the normal eruption of a permanent tooth, if the tooth has suffered extensive tooth decay or trauma that cannot be repaired, if the patient has gum disease, or if the tooth is impacted (usually the wisdom teeth). Depending on the complexity of the case, an extraction can be performed surgically or non-surgically. A mild anesthesia is used to ensure your child is as comfortable as possible throughout the procedure.

Wisdom Teeth

Your third molars are more commonly called “wisdom teeth.” Usually appearing in the late teens or early twenties, third molars often lack the proper space in the jaw to erupt fully or even at all. This common condition is called impaction. When any tooth lacks the space to come through or simply develops in the wrong place of your jaw and becomes impacted, problems can arise. Primarily, damage to adjacent teeth and crowding occur.

In certain cases, the wisdom tooth that cannot come through becomes inflamed under the gums and in the jawbone, causing a sac to develop around the root of the tooth that then fills with liquid. This can cause a cyst or an abscess if it becomes infected. If either of these situations goes untreated, serious damage to the underlying bone and surrounding teeth and tissues can result.

To potentially stave off this result, an extraction of one, several or all of the wisdom teeth may be advised. If that is the case, we have the equipment and training needed to perform such extractions, with an absolute minimum of discomfort. Ask our staff for more information regarding tooth extractions if you feel you may need one.

Schedule a Consultation at Arizona Smile Designers Today!

At Arizona Smile Designers, we want all of our patients to feel comfortable and confident with their smiles. You can schedule a consultation with our Cottonwood dentists to determine if you are a good candidate for veneers. Contact the best dental office in Arizona by calling (928) 634-8610. You can also request an appointment by filling out our online form. We look forward to seeing you soon!