Cosmetic Dentistry Orange County | Huefner Sensational Smiles Blog

Serving Laguna Niguel, Irvine, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, Santa Margarita, and Surrounding Areas Of Orange County, California

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Porcelain Veneers Create Sensational Smiles for Mark without Orthodontics

Mark, a very successful businessman, had crooked, yellow and worn teeth. Dealing with clients and the public he became increasingly self conscious about the appearance of his smile. He had been told that braces would make his teeth straight, but as busy as he was going to the orthodontist for two years just wasn't an option that Mark would seriously consider. He realized that at the end he would have straight teeth, but they would still be worn, misshaped and discolored. Wasn't there a better or easier way to have a great smile?
After consulting with several cosmetic dentists, Mark came to get Dr. Huefner's opinion. Dr. Huefner listened carefully to Mark and after fully understanding his goals and expectations, did a preliminary smile design consultation.

Mark's crooked and worn teeth before cosmetic dentistry

Fortunately, Mark's teeth could be changed into a beautiful smile with porcelain veneers in just a few visits. But, Mark really wanted to have a good idea of the final results before he began treatment. Also, he wasn't sure how white he wanted his new teeth and if Dr. Huefner would create the teeth with the best shape for his face. Was there anyway that Mark could preview the results before treatment actually began?
Dr. Huefner assured Mark that he understood his concerns, as many of his patients had expressed the same thing. The answer, Dr. Huefner told Mark, was in the "trial smile", the "test drive" of the final porcelain veneers.
Briefly, Mark would walk out after his first treatment visit with Dr. Huefner with a great looking smile. But, that smile would not be his final smile, it would be plastic veneers, called the "trial smile" that Dr. Huefner could change or reshape according to Mark's wishes. Then when Mark gave Dr. Huefner his final approval, Dr. Huefner would instruct his master ceramist (who actually constructs the porcelain veneers) the precise design for each and every porcelain veneer....the length, shape, color, texture, translucency, opacity, etc.
After hearing that, Mark felt much more comfortable about proceeding with his treatment.

Mark's "trial smile"

As you might imagine from the photo above of Mark wearing his "trial smile", he was trilled with the amazing improvement. He gave is full approval of his "trial smile" design and final porcelain veneers were fabricated by Dr. Huefner's ceramist according to the design that Mark and Dr. Huefner specified.
End result, a very satisfied patient with a great smile achieved with porcelain veneers!
Dr. Norman Huefner, General and Cosmetic Dentistry, Laguna Niguel, CA

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posted by Dr. Norman Huefner at 10:07 AM

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Porcelain Veneers Used to Correct Crooked Smiles by Dr. Huefner, Orange County Cosmetic Dentist

There have been many interesting studies with regard to the perception of facial beauty and what they determined was that facial symmetry was much more important than individual features. Since teeth and the person’s smile are the strongest focus area (where your attention is drawn when speaking to or looking at), the symmetry of a smile is incredibly important!

Unfortunately, most people have at least some inherent asymmetry: one eye might be slightly higher than the other, the nose might be off center, and sometimes one side of the face is longer than the other. With regards to the smile, lips that move higher or lower on one side than the other or show more teeth on one when the person speaks or smiles is an important thing for the cosmetic dentist to be aware of prior to beginning any smile enhancement procedures like porcelain veneers or porcelain crowns. Most of the time this isn’t a significant problem, but for others, like this patient of mine, her crooked smile really bothered her.

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Note how the teeth all point down to her lower right (her right is on the left of the photo), as seen from the five black lines. Also, that the bottom edges of the teeth cant (lean to one side) as well, as seen on the red line. Together, these all threw off her smile and detracted considerably from much of the beauty of her face.

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To make things more interesting, this patient had some old dentistry that she didn’t like. The teeth and gums appeared as having different lengths. She wanted a whiter, brighter smile that would be even and symmetrical and offset her facial asymmetries. So, taking all aspects and features of her face in consideration here is the beautiful result we achieved with porcelain veneers and a new all-ceramic bridge (replacing her old-fashioned porcelain-to-metal bridge).

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I can’t emphasize enough that in order to create a superb smile and result like this necessitated I pay particular attention to all of her facial features. I fine tuned the gum symmetry and length, shape of the teeth using provisional (temporary) restorations, which allowed her to “test drive” her new smile first. After achieving her full approval at this stage I was able to give my ceramist very specific and precise instructions on how to complete the final porcelain veneers and bridge. End result: A VERY SATISFIED AND HAPPY PATIENT!

Dr. Norman Huefner, General and Cosmetic Dentistry, Laguna Niguel, CA

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posted by Dr. Norman Huefner at 9:21 AM

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