The Importance Of Preventive Dental Care At Any Age

Posted on: 16 March 2016

Your eye teeth, also known as canines, are the pointed teeth found between your incisors and premolars. These teeth are used for tearing apart meats and other tough foods. They're an essential part of your dentistry, but a lot of people hate the way their canines look in their mouths. Namely, some patients feel like their canines are too large or too pointy, and that this makes them the focal point of their smile. Does this sound all too familiar? If you hate your eye teeth, here's a look at some methods a cosmetic dentist might use to fix the problem.

Braces

At first, braces might sound like an unlikely fix for large, pointy eye teeth, but consider the following. In many patients, if the teeth are a bit too crowded or close together, the eye teeth end up being pushed forward and in front of the incisors and premolars. This makes them look larger in comparison to the other teeth. To determine if this is the case for you, your dentist will examine your mouth and the location of your canines. X-rays may also be taken to determine where the roots of your canines and the neighboring teeth are located. If your canines are, indeed, found to be pushed forward in relation to the neighboring teeth, braces will likely be recommended.

The braces will push the teeth neighboring your canines to the side, so the canines are pushed further towards the tongue side of your mouth. This will make them look less obvious and more in proportion to the rest of your teeth. Depending on how severe your tooth misalignment is, you may have to wear braces for anywhere from 18 months to 3 years, but when you're done, you can stop worrying about your eye teeth.

Tooth Reshaping

If your canines are properly located in your jaw but are, in fact, a little too large in comparison to the rest of your teeth, one of the treatments your dentist may recommend is tooth reshaping. This treatment can also help if your canines are properly sized but too pointy, or if you've had braces but still feel your teeth are a little too large. "Dental reshaping" is really a fancy term for "filing." Your dentist will use an electronic file, similar to a dental drill, to file down your tooth to the proper size and shape. Your mouth will be numbed during the procedure, so you won't feel any pain. Your teeth might be a bit sensitive to hot and cold after dental reshaping, but this sensitivity should fade within a few weeks.

It's important to note that your dentist can only safely remove so much enamel from your tooth before damage is done. X-rays will be taken to determine how much enamel your dentist can safely remove during the reshaping procedure. You might have to settle for teeth that are not quite as small as you'd hoped, but your results will certainly be an improvement.

Venners

Sometimes, the problem might not actually be that your canines are too large, but that the teeth that neighbor them are too small in comparison. If this is the case, your dentist can apply veneers to the teeth that neighbor your canines to make them look larger. Veneers are thin, porcelain covers that are cemented to your teeth. They hide your real teeth from view; when someone looks at you, they see the veneers rather than your real teeth.

Your dentist will fit you with some mock-up veneers to ensure you like the way they look before the real veneers are applied. While applying veneers is painless, you might have some tooth sensitivity afterwards. Once you have veneers put in place, you must keep them for life, since some of your tooth enamel must be filed off in order to attach them.

If you hate your eye teeth because they look too large and prominent, don't go on living in misery. Speak with a cosmetic dentistry clinic about these and other treatment options.