The front teeth have worn so much that they don’t even touch the lower teeth. See here:

Notice how you are able to see through the very thin edges of these teeth. And very little tooth actually shows when her lips are relaxed and at rest. This is something usually seen in someone much older. As we age, the edge of our teeth often will wear, and we show less and less of the tooth. When this happens prematurely it gives us an ‘older’ looking smile.

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.

And here’s the final result, along with a photo of where we started. Remember, these teeth were symptom free but definitely had cavities hiding in the grooves. So if your dentist talks about some spots with a cavity starting and wants to complete a filling, don’t wait! Take care of it now while it’s small!

After almost completely cleaning both teeth, again, it is obvious they both had cavities. Now it’s time to make them look great!

When we started cleaning these teeth, the extent of the decay became apparent. Deep? Not really. But what’s the sense in waiting for these cavities to grow and grow until they’ve destroyed a huge amount of tooth structure? Why wait? If there’s already decay starting, take care of it before it gets bigger!

Another great example of conservative dentistry that looks great when we’re finished. See these stained grooves? Think there’s any problem here? Wait and see….