Smoking + Your Mouth = Disease

The stop smoking campaigns are ubiquitous, but these campaigns advertise primarily the risk of lung cancer and heart disease. What is not often talked about, but should be are the effects smoking has to your oral health. A few of the risks include oral cancer, diminished ability to taste and smell, gum disease and complicated recovery from oral health issues. 

Dealing with Disease

Aside from cancer, gum (periodontal) disease is one of the top concerns of smoking. Tobacco interferes with cell function and nicotine restricts blood vessels, interfering with the body’s ability to heal. It can leave you more susceptible to contracting gum disease, or could make it more difficult to overcome a bacterial infection in your mouth, causing you to experience unnecessary complications.

Recovering from Dental Procedures

Many people have difficulty recovering from dental procedures, especially if their immune system is compromised. This is exactly what occurs when a person smokes. The body becomes less able to repair itself after trauma, including surgery on the mouth. This leaves your gums at risk for infection or at the very least, leaves you unable to eat, talk or smile normally for an extended period of time.

The best way to save yourself from the risk of serious illness or complications is to quit smoking. Before you start a smoking cessation program, you should have proper support in place to help you through the difficult time. Your dental professional Dr. Giri Palani can counsel you and/or prescribe medication to help with smoking cessation. As you begin to eliminate tobacco from your life, remind yourself of the positive impact you will be making on your physical and oral health as a result. 

Contact Us Today

If you are ready to make a positive change and need to consult with your Beverly Hills dentist about dental treatments to consider as you eliminate tobacco (such as veneers or tooth whitening), contact us today for your free consultation.

5 Ways to Improve Your Smile!

Improve Your Smile in 5 Ways!

Cosmetic dentistry offers many options for people who are unhappy with their smile. There are five main ways to improve your smile for a natural and beautiful effect.

1 - Composite bonding: Using tooth colored composite material, your dentist can apply this to the surface of the tooth to repair chipped, broken, discolored, or decayed teeth.

2 - Composite fillings: These fillings are tooth colored and require less tooth removal than traditional silver (amalgam) fillings. Many people choose to have their amalgam (silver) fillings replaced with composite for a more natural look.

3 - Dental Veneers: Composite or porcelain veneers are adhesively bonded to the anterior (front) of the tooth to repair chips and cracks, or to correct severe tooth discoloration. 

4 - Teeth Whitening: Our teeth often become stained from smoking, foods, and poor oral hygiene. Using specialized whitening bleach either in the office or a lower-strength product at home, lightening your teeth can take years off your smile.

5 - Smile Makeover: These involved a comprehensive assessment of your oral health and your smile goals to improve your overall appearance. During a smile makeover, several dental procedures may be required to achieve the look you want.

Dr. Giri Palani will help you create the smile of your dreams in our Beverly Hills, CA dental office. To learn more about cosmetic dentistry, visit our website or call us at (310) 547-1128.

Veneers for your Smile Makeover

At Total SmileCare in Beverly Hills, CA and serving Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, Dr. Palani often uses veneers in his smile makeovers. Veneers are an excellent way to redesign and reshape your entire mouth. Veneers are a very thin ceramic shell that covers your existing tooth structure. In placing these new veneers on your teeth, you are able to fix the look of issues such as staining, cracked teeth, spaces, misaligned teeth, chipped teeth and many other issues.

In terms of the process to place veneers, it is a process that takes approximately two to three visits. In the first visit, Dr. Giri Palani, your dentist in Beverly Hills, CA will discuss the new shape and look of what we are going to accomplish by placing the veneers. Once we have put a plan in place, we will carefully prepare the teeth for the placement of the new veneers. As we complete this piece of the process, the next step is to take an impression of the newly prepared teeth. This impression will be sent to our laboratory for the final product to be fabricated. We only utilize the highest standard laboratory for fabrication of all of our work. This process at the laboratory takes between 10-14 days. While the new veneers are being fabricated at the lab, we will provide you with a beautiful temporary solution to wear for this time.

As the veneers are finalized, we will make every effort to make sure that your new veneers will feel just like your natural teeth. We will bond them into place ensuring that you can enjoy your new smile for a very long time! For more information on your cosmetic dental makeover, please contact our office today!