Closing an Unattractive Gap between Your Two Front Teeth

For the many people around the country and the world with teeth that are significantly damaged or missing entirely, dental prosthetics like dentures or dental implants are their means of restoring their smile and the aesthetic appeal of their teeth. If you are among those people dealing with teeth missing or damaged, whatever the reason, you may be thinking about getting a prosthetic one day in the near or even the distant future. The technologies used to create dental prosthetics like dental implants are constantly changing and evolving. Get to know some of the ways that these technologies are changing so you can keep up with all the best that cosmetic dentistry has to offer.

Newer Technologies Allow For Fewer Appointments And Faster Results

The changes in technology in the dental industry are making it possible for patients seeking dental prosthetics to get their new dentures or dental implants faster and with fewer appointments. Before advances in computer technology, dentists would have to take both x-rays and physical molds of the mouth and teeth (sometimes several sets) to develop a dental prosthetic. They would then have to build and create the prosthetic, test it to make sure it would fit, and then finish and implant or put in the prosthetic. This could take numerous appointments over the course of several weeks or months.

However, the use of digital scans and x-rays actually allow for clearer images and pictures of the inside of a dental patient's mouth and the structure of their teeth. Several images are taken in quick succession and are sent to a computer. The computer combines those images to build a 3D model of the mouth. This allows dentists to use CAD (computer-aided design) to more efficiently and quickly design and build a dental prosthetic.

The Future Is In 3-D Printing of Personalized Teeth

The future of dental prosthetics is in the use of the increasingly affordable and efficient 3-D printing technology. One company is currently working to develop the use of 3-D printing to create personalized and customized artificial teeth for use in dental implants and other dental prosthetics.

The idea behind this is to create a tooth that perfectly matches the person's natural teeth. With the use of technologies already available, like the aforementioned CAD process, dentists could theoretically design, print, and implant new teeth in a single appointment. This would make the entire dental implant or other dental prosthetic process more affordable, less time-consuming, and more appealing overall to dental patients seeking cosmetic dentistry services. While this process is still in testing phases, it is very likely that advances such as these will be widely used in the not-so-distant future.

With all of this in mind, you can be sure that you stay up-to-date on all of the dental prosthetic advances so you can get the best possible cosmetic dentistry services when you are ready to get prosthetics for your damaged or missing teeth.