We resurfaced the bonding on her lateral incisor, leaving the existing bonding on her canine tooth (That will be resurfaced later).  The change was dramatic. It was an easy fix and got this young lady off to college with a new, brighter smile.  A few years from now we’ll consider some conservative veneers.

But, when the tooth is opened up, look what’s inside:

This was NOT evident when you looked at the tooth (see below) and was only found with an x-ray.

So remember where we started? The original teeth were thin, worn, and discolored.

And, with the proper planning and great teamwork, we get to here:

Here is where we started. This young lady lost a lot of tooth structure earlier in her life. Now the teeth are too short, and VERY thin at the edge. Although there is no sensitivity, the nerve in these teeth is barely covered. There is almost no tooth structure left to protect them. Our challenge is to not only replace the lost tooth structure, but also restore ideal function and esthetics.

As I’ve stated before, the best plan when restoring teeth is to start with the end result in mind. This pretty smile is where we finished. Stay tuned to see where we started.

With the decay removed we were able to reconstruct these teeth, replacing the old fillings and the cavity around them. The patient was SO happy with the results!

Here’s a closer look at these two teeth. You can see the dark areas that have started around the existing tooth-colored fillings. The cavity usually will have undermined the existing filling and the tooth around it, too. So to properly repair and restore this area the entire old filling will need to be removed and replaced.

This is one that’ll make a few people a little queezy, but the results were SO out of this world great I’ve just GOT to show it!!

This woman was referred to my by the periodontist with one of the most significant cases of recession I have ever seen. She was having moderate sensitivity with these teeth and needed the exposed root surfaces covered for her comfort and their long-term viability.of these teeth. Here’s a look at the patient smiling…doesn’t look too bad, right?  Just wait…

Here’s a better view of this same tooth.  Again, it was an easy, inexpensive procedure that takes a pretty smile and makes it fantastic!

A recent study published in the Journal of Periodontology has shown a link between stress and periodontal, or gum, disease. Read more about it here.