Month: June 2018

Enhancing your smile with porcelain veneers can be life changing for most patients! Veneers create beautiful teeth, which allow you to smile with confidence. This can help you achieve your personal and professional goals. While porcelain veneers are stain resistant, there are some things your Framingham cosmetic dentist wants you to know about your veneers that will help you make the most of your investment in your smile.

What is a Porcelain Veneer?

Dental veneers are comprised of a thin, micro-layer of porcelain that covers each tooth. The veneers are coated with a protective, stain-resistant resin that helps them maintain their shade and protects the veneers from damage. Keeping the coating intact is the key to your veneers remaining stain resistant.

If the protective resin coating is scratched or damaged, by eating hard foods or using abrasive toothpastes, it will eventually begin to allow staining to happen.

Protecting Your Investment

Just like with your natural teeth, it’s important to protect your veneers by limiting certain foods and beverages and avoiding biting into hard foods such as apples, carrots, or crusty bread. These foods can still be enjoyed in smaller bite size pieces that don’t run the risk of breaking or damaging your veneers.

Acidic foods and drinks will also wear away the protective coating of resin on your veneers over time. So be wary of food like lemons, marinara sauces, and soy sauce.

Beverages to be aware of that cause the most staining and discoloration are:

• Coffee and black tea
• Red wine
• Dark colas

The other lifestyle factor that greatly affects your teeth and veneers is smoking or tobacco use. Smoking leaves a yellow film on your teeth that is hard to clean with just brushing alone; not to mention the damage to your overall health and increased risk of

If you have orthodontics, the only way to prevent plaque build up is by cleaning your teeth after every meal and snack. At Clear Advantage Orthodontics, we want you to have a beautiful healthy smile. In order for us to achieve this goal, good hygiene on your part is vital.

Here are some tips to great dental hygiene while undergoing orthodontic treatment:

1. Brush, and not just your teeth

Your teeth aren’t the only areas that accumulate bacteria. After brushing your teeth in a soft, circular motion, gently brush your gums, tongue and sides of your mouth. Brush after every meal or snack. 

2. Brush with fluoride toothpaste

Using fluoride toothpaste helps prevent tooth decay. It makes your teeth more resistant to acid.

3. Use a soft-bristled brush

Your gums are delicate, so make sure you use a soft-bristled brush to gently remove particles. 

4. Floss around your teeth

Floss daily to remove trapped food and particles. Don’t forget to floss the areas behind your back teeth. Use a scooping motion to remove the food particles. For those with braces, use a floss threader to get to your teeth behind the braces wire.

5. Rinse with a fluoride mouthwash

Rinse your mouth after eating with mouthwash to kill any bacteria. Try to avoid sugary drinks altogether. If you must, swish with water or brush after your drinking a sugary drink.

6. Clean teeth with a proxabrush

With braces, there are more areas for bacteria to grow. Use a proxabrush to clean between the brackets.

7. Get regular check-ups

See your dentist throughout your treatment. Although most patients go for a regular checkup twice a year, some may require more frequent professional cleaning. This of course depends on how well your maintain your dental hygiene!