Author: thrive

The evolution of Tom Cruise’s smile has always fascinated me. He’s an example of why every smile needs to be assessed and treated to be in harmony with the face. One thing is for sure. Once you see the issues with his smile, you just can’t unsee them. Tom has a tooth at the exact center of his face. Tom’s facial midline does not line up with his dental midline that midline between the two upper front teeth. This discrepancy is actually quite common and often occurs when a person is missing a tooth on one side of their mouth and not the other. There are a number of studies showing that a discrepancy between the facial and the dental midline of greater than two millimeters can be perceived by most people and actually detracts from how attractive we consider a smile to be. Tom Cruise is still a heartthrob. No doubt his incredible confidence and charisma has made up for what he lacks in the dental department.

As a cosmetic dentist the three things I look for that you don’t . Smile arc. If you were to trace a line joining the tips of the front teeth  Does this arc run in harmony and in parallel with the lower lip? In cases where it doesn’t in a flattened or reverse smile arc the smile does not look harmonious. Buckle corridors. Have you ever looked at a photo of you smiling and noticed dark shadows in the corners of your smile?  If yes, then you have what are called buckle corridors. Buckle corridors or negative space gives the impression of the smile being narrow instead of wide, full and beautiful. Gum lines. A little bit of gum show when smiling is a sign of youth and health. For some people, there is an excess amount of gum show which actually detracts from the aesthetics of the smile. The pink, the gum, and the white, the teeth. Need to be in harmony to achieve a nice aesthetic smile.

I get it. You want your breath to smell fresh.  However, the reality is that the vast majority of mouthwashes can actually be doing you more harm than good. Firstly, mouthwashes can disrupt the delicate balance of bacteria that exists in our mouth. I liken using a mouthwash to throwing a grenade against both the good and the bad bacteria that lives in our mouth. They indiscriminately kill everything. Mouthwashes, especially alcohol containing ones dry out our mouths. That burn that you get with certain mouthwashes that can actually be a sign that the skin of your mouth is being irritated by the ingredients within the mouthwash. For some people, the addition of a mouthwash means they become more lax with their hygiene steps. The steps that have the biggest impact on oral health, like brushing and flossing.  Mouthwashes should never be a substitute for these.  If you don’t want to have bad breath Come back to the basics.  Brush, floss, use a tongue scraper.  If after that you still have bad breath, consult with your dentist.

Here is a rundown of the key things you need to know about  teeth whitening. all teeth whitening agents break down to hydrogen peroxide as the active whitening agent. In Australia you can only purchase whitening products above 6% peroxide from dentists. Professional teeth whitening done by a dentist falls into one of two categories: at home and in-chair teeth whitening. At home whitening involves injecting whitening gel into trays custom made for your mouth  and wearing those trays for a duration in time. in-chair whitening involves an appointment with a dentist in which a high strength peroxide usually about 30 to 35% is applied to the teeth by a dentist. Some in-chair procedures involve the use of a special light to theoretically accelerate the whitening process. Most people experience some level of sensitivity with teeth whitening. This sensitivity is transient and reversible if you have a healthy set of teeth. Use sensitive toothpaste before and after as well as during your whitening.