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

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Rugged Gentleman Gets Great Smile with Porcelain Veneers by Dr. Huefner

Philip had a rugged smile with worn and discolored teeth. If you look closely at the photo below you'll notice that he was actually congenitally missing two of his incisors (born without the tooth "bud" for two front teeth, something we see in about 5% of the population).

drhuefner_4veneers_1_resize.jpg BEFORE

Over the years Philip's gums had receded which left gaps between his teeth as well. It was time for a change. He didn’t want to look “perfect”, just to have nice looking teeth when he smiled.

Our first appointment with Philip was a complimentary cosmetic dentistry consultation. We took photos of Philip's teeth and smile and looked at them on the computer monitor. This enabled us to communicate better and make sure we were all seeing the same things and truly addressing the concerns that he had.

After discussing his particular situation, likes and dislikes, and goals, Dr. Huefner suggested treating his smile with just four porcelain veneers. He recommended making his two front teeth a little longer and by making his cuspids look like lateral incisors so that he would have a natural looking smile. Also, the color of the veneers were made just a little lighter than the other visible teeth. The result, a younger, more healthy looking, more attractive and professional looking masculine smile! John was thrilled with the result.

drhuefner_4veneers_2_resize.jpg AFTER

As you might have guessed by the huge improvement, the patient was extremely pleased with the result achieved for him.
Dr. Norman Huefner, General and Cosmetic Dentistry, Laguna Niguel, CA

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posted by Dr. Norman Huefner at 2:01 PM

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Missing Front Teeth Replaced with Conservative Bonded Bridges by Dr. Huefner

Dawn was congenitally missing her two upper lateral incisors. This is a common problem, as 3-5% of the U.S. population are congenitally missing either one or two lateral incisors or lower bicuspids.

Dawn congenitally missing her two lateral incisors

She had braces for two years and the orthodontist had put two false teeth on her retainer. Now 18 years old and soon going off to college, she was becomming increasingly dissatisfied with the appearance of her teeth and smile and wanted an improvement before she left. What were her options, she asked Dr. Huefner.

One option was dental implants, however that is not a good choice until her facial growth is completed, which it hadn't in her case. It may be five or more years until she could have implants.

Another choice was a better removable partial denture than she currently had. But she hated the fact that it came in and out and really wanted a more permanent solution.

The traditional treatment would be two 3-unit porcelain bridges. However that would mean that the teeth on both sides of the missing teeth would need to be reshaped and completely covered over with crowns, meaning that instead of just two teeth replacements she would have six!

Wasn't there something better, more conservative for Dawn?

Yes, today modern cosmetic dentist now have a better solution, permanent non-metal, porcelain on fiber reinforced resin bonded lingually retained bridges. No drilling on the front of any of her teeth, just very conservative preparation on the backs of the adjacent teeth. Here is the results that we achieved for Dawn with two bonded lingually retained bridges.

Dawn treated with two conservative lingually retained permanent bridges.

As you can imagine, Dawn was trilled with the improvement in her teeth and smile that we were able to achieve for her.

Dr. Norman Huefner, General and Cosmetic Dentistry, Orange County, CA

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posted by Dr. Norman Huefner at 1:46 PM

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