Dentistry: the confetti complete guide
A dazzling smile will add the perfect finishing touches to your look
Just picture this scene – the beautiful bride walks serenely down the aisle, her head held high, soft hair cascading down her shoulders. Everything about her is perfect: her face, her dress, her figure. As she smiles, however, all eyes are strangely drawn to her Austin Powers style teeth, uneven yellowing tombstones with tea‐stains around each tooth. In an instant the whole illusion of beauty is shattered… but it needn’t have been with a little help from her trusty dentist.
Cosmetic dentistry
Having your teeth expertly polished, whitened or even straightened and fixed for your wedding is becoming more and more popular. Most people brush and floss their teeth twice a day but how many people actually get their teeth professionally polished or whitened on a regular basis? Feeling better about your smile can work wonders for your confidence. People with discoloured, uneven or missing teeth often feel less attractive and may consciously hide their teeth behind closed lips when they smile.
Your wedding day and those everlasting wedding photos are often just the incentives you need to get your coffee‐stained teeth transformed into the pearly white sparklers of a film star. Replacing old crowns or having veneers fitted or even using your wedding planning time to wear a brace to straighten uneven teeth will ensure you have a confident and dazzling smile on your wedding day, and it will do wonders for your confidence for the rest of your life. If wearing a brace for a long time doesn’t sound like your cup of tea then there are new alternatives such as discreet dental aligners, removable appliances which can straighten teeth often in just weeks rather than months! Cosmetic dentistry doesn’t come cheap and some procedures can cost hundreds, even thousands of pounds. If your smile is ruining your confidence though, it may be worth saving up for. Kate had her teeth fixed for her wedding and said:
“I’d fallen over at the age of eight and knocked my front teeth badly which had killed the root and left them discoloured. I’d had crowns put in at the time but as I’d grown up they’d looked smaller next to the rest of my teeth and the colour didn’t quite match so I always smiled with my hand in front of my mouth or with my lips closed, hoping no one would notice my teeth. I’d always wanted to have perfect teeth so when I was planning my wedding I decided that the time had come to do something about it. I saw an orthodontist who made me new crowns that he carefully matched to the colour of the rest of my teeth. It didn’t hurt at all and it wasn’t even uncomfortable. They cost me about £400 per tooth but it was worth every penny as it’s made me more confident and I love the fact that all my wedding photos show me smiling broadly instead of trying to hide away the teeth I was always so ashamed of. Now I don’t think twice about smiling and I see the cost very much as an investment in my future happiness and confidence. It might sound a bit dramatic but having it done did change my life for the better so I’m glad I did it.”
Tooth whitening
If you smoke, drink tea, coffee or red wine then chances are your teeth may not be as white as they used to be. Having your gnashers whitened is a simple procedure that many stars of stage and screen have done regularly. The difference between shiny white healthy looking teeth and discoloured yellow or tea‐stained choppers can be amazing. You can buy home‐whitening kits or go to a professional for recommended expert treatment. Just investing in a whitening toothpaste can sometimes make all the difference by taking teeth a shade or two lighter in just a couple of weeks of regular use.
Fight the fear
Fear of the dentist affects about one in four of us so if just the thought of the dentist’s chair makes you anxious, you are not alone. Choosing an understanding dentist is the first step. If you’ve been avoiding going to the dentist and can’t remember the last time you had a check up then your wedding could be the catalyst to overcome your fear and get the smile you’ve always dreamed of. Ask around for a recommendation or contact a few local dentist surgeries to ask if they have any dentists who are particularly good with nervous patients. Rest assured they will have come across many a nervous patient in the past. Much of the anxiety surrounding dentists is the fear of the unknown. It’s good to remember that whatever treatment the dentist recommends for you won’t be done there and then. The initial consultation is always just a look at your teeth and a chat about how you look after them. If you do require some treatment then you can go away to think about it and have a chance to ask questions about how it could be done. One of the biggest misconceptions about dentistry is that dental treatment is painful, which it often isn’t. There are pain relief options available if you’re not willing to take the risk however!
