The Pressure of a Hollywood Smile

There are two things that might seem unfair about your smile if you live in Greater Los Angeles.

Everywhere everyone looks, from huge billboards and supermarket tabloids to the biggest theater screens and the smallest mobile ones, everyone sees those perfect celebrity smiles and we all get compared with those.

But even without that high bar of comparison, humans have always judged others by their smiles: a full one is associated with someone who is friendly and happy, someone you want to be around, whether on a date or at work.

A Smile Transformation at Wilshire Smile Studio

Of course, most stars were not born with those gleaming grins and some don’t mind admitting that they had some help getting ready for those close-ups (which gives hope to their fans).

Not surprisingly, since Wilshire Smile Studio is a couple of blocks from Hollywood’s new Academy of Motion Pictures Museum and very near Beverly Hills, we are considered one of the masters of cosmetic dentistry in the region (which is why we have some famous smiles on the walls of our waiting room).

Affordable Cosmetic Dentistry for All

The good news is that here you can get a celebrity smile at a non-celebrity price and every patient is a star to us.

The range of our cosmetic dentistry specialties runs from teeth whitening that is safer and more effective than over-the-counter options and Invisalign trays to straighten a crooked bite to dental implants to replace missing teeth and dental veneers.

The Many Benefits of Dental Veneers

Veneers, made of cosmetic porcelain, are an especially popular option because they can fix so many different problems:

• When other whitening methods are not sufficient, veneers can cover teeth that have been darkened by drinking red wine, coffee and tea, colored sodas, or even eating tomatoes and blueberries (as well as by smoking, certain medications, and some mouthwashes)
• Teeth that are very visible when you smile have slight chips or cracks, but can be easily covered by veneers.
• If you feel shy about flashing a full smile because some of your teeth are slightly crooked (but not enough to need orthodontic treatment), have gaps between them, or are too small or too large compared with the others, veneers can be the solution.

Why Veneers Might be Your Perfect Solution

“In fact, you can use veneers to change the appearance of your teeth in virtually any way you want,” wrote Steve Tatevossian, DDS, in a chapter of A Reason to Smile: Fixing Broken Confidence With Cosmetic Dentistry.

“Getting veneers can also help you look younger and healthier, because brighter, whiter, more perfectly formed teeth are associated with youth and good health. The process of aging wears down your teeth, causes loss of part of the hard enamel protective coating, increases staining of the teeth, and changes tooth alignment. Veneers can do wonders and help you look younger by lengthening or widening your teeth, which provides important support for your lips and cheeks that can diminish as you get older.”

The Process of Placing Veneers Requires Expertise

Unfortunately, any dental practice can claim it specializes in veneers and other cosmetic procedures. We see the results of the lack of training and experience regularly:

• Using resin veneers, which do not look like real teeth and do not last nearly as long (5-7 years) as dental porcelain (10 years or more with care)
• Failing to do a professional whitening of teeth that are dark, even though they may show through if dental porcelain is the material, which is translucent.
• Making inaccurate impressions of the teeth that will have the veneers, resulting in a poor fit when the dental lab sends them back.
• Using a low-cost foreign lab to save money (either to keep the cost low for the practice for greater profit or to offer the patient a price that will compete with other discount dental practices).
• Inevitably, miscommunication and low standards result in inferior veneers.
• Creating uneven margins where the veneers meet the teeth, resulting in gum inflammation.
• Putting the veneers on in a way that causes problems with the bite.
• Taking off too much enamel (some reduction is needed so the veneers don’t stick out artificially) there may not be enough of the teeth left to support the veneers. Or not enough is removed and the teeth with veneers look too large.
• Inadequate bonding that leads to veneers falling off.
• Excessive cement is used, which irritates the gums.

Start Your Journey to a Beautiful Smile Today

Call Wilshire Smile Studio today for a full dental examination and discussion about whether veneers would be an important step on your journey to a beautiful smile.

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