You might recognise
- Teeth darker than you would like
- A chipped or uneven front tooth
- A gap you have always noticed
- Old fillings that no longer match
- A quote for veneers you want checked
Cosmetic Dentistry
Work that still looks like you
Whitening, bonding and veneers, planned around your own face rather than a photograph of someone else’s. We will tell you honestly what will suit you, what will not, and where the cheaper option gives you most of the result.
Who this is for
Anyone bothered by the colour, shape or spacing of their front teeth, including people who are not sure whether anything can be done about it.
Also people who have been quoted for veneers elsewhere and want a second view before committing to something that cannot be undone.
Your options
From least to most permanent
We would rather start with the option that changes least. You can always do more later. You cannot undo tooth that has been removed.
Whitening
In-clinic or take-home trays. Changes the shade of your own enamel, nothing is removed. Reversible in the sense that the colour gradually returns. The safest place to start.
Composite bonding
Tooth-coloured material shaped straight onto the tooth to repair a chip, close a small gap or even up an edge. Usually one visit, little or no drilling, and it can be removed later.
Porcelain veneers
Thin facings bonded to the front of the teeth. The most dramatic change, and the only one on this list that permanently reshapes the tooth underneath. Not a decision to make quickly.
Smile design
Planning the whole smile rather than one tooth at a time. Often the answer turns out to be straightening first, then whitening, with no veneers needed at all.
The process
How we plan it before we touch anything
What is actually bothering you
People arrive asking for veneers when what bothers them is the colour, which whitening fixes. Or the alignment, which braces fix. We start by finding out what you would change, in your words.
Health before appearance
Decay and gum disease get treated first. Cosmetic work built over an existing problem looks good briefly and then fails.
The options, honestly
What each one will and will not achieve, what it costs, how long it lasts, and what it commits you to. If we think the result you want is not realistic, we will say so before you spend anything.
Seeing it first
Where the case allows, we show you the planned result before anything permanent happens, so you are agreeing to something you have seen rather than something you have imagined.
The work, and afterwards
We check shade and shape in daylight, not just under the clinic light. Then we tell you what will keep it looking that way, including the things that will stain it.
Common questions
Whitening and veneers, answered
Whitening lifts your natural shade by several steps. It does not turn every set of teeth the same colour, because everyone starts from a different place and enamel thickness varies. We show you a realistic target shade before starting rather than after.
Professionally supervised whitening at the correct concentration does not damage enamel. Sensitivity during and shortly after treatment is common and settles. The risk comes from unsupervised products bought online at unknown concentrations, and from using them on teeth with untreated decay or gum disease.
If the issue is colour alone, whitening, because it removes nothing from the tooth. Veneers make sense for shape, chips, or gaps that whitening cannot address. Many people who arrive asking for veneers end up happy with whitening and a small amount of bonding.
No. Whitening only changes natural tooth. Existing crowns, veneers and white fillings stay the shade they were made, which means they can end up looking darker than the teeth around them. If you have visible work at the front, we plan the order carefully so the shades match at the end.
Usually one to three years, depending mostly on what you drink. Coffee, tea, red wine and smoking bring the colour back faster. Keeping your trays and doing a short top-up occasionally is much cheaper than repeating the whole treatment.
No. Preparing a tooth for a porcelain veneer removes a layer of enamel permanently, so the tooth will always need something covering it afterwards. That is exactly why we talk it through properly and why we suggest the less permanent options first.
First step
Talk it through first
Tell us what you would change about your smile. One visit is usually enough to know whether it needs whitening, bonding, straightening, or nothing at all.