Cosmetic Dentistry in Carmel, IN

Your smile plays an important role in the way you look and the way you feel about yourself. All other aspects of your appearance can be perfect, but a flawed smile will leave you blue. The cosmetic dentists at Kristoff & Associates Family Dentistry in Carmel offer cosmetic dentistry services to make you love your smile.

Cosmetic dentistry is an extremely popular choice to improve your appearance – without surgery and the negative side effects often reported. Some of the aesthetic treatments we offer, like teeth whitening or tooth-colored, one-visit crowns, can be completed in a single office visit.

We don’t know of a faster, safer way to transform your image and boost your confidence. Take a look at our before-and-after photos to envision what we can do for your smile!

Teeth Whitening

The appearance of your smile says a lot about you. A recent employment study revealed that employers are more likely to hire people with attractive smiles, and people assume those with brighter smiles are smarter, healthier, and more attractive as well. Over-the-counter teeth whitening toothpaste, mouth rinses, strips, and gels promise dramatic results, but only professional teeth whitening products are able to deliver.

Causes of Tooth Discoloration

• Foods and beverages eaten on a daily basis.
• Tobacco use, especially long term usage.
• Aging leads to worn enamel that reveals the yellow-colored dentin layer below.
• Genetics determine what the natural shade of teeth will be. While we culturally prefer whiter teeth, natural coloring ranges from white to yellow, brown, gray, or blue.
• Medications, especially those that include tetracycline. Taking this medication as a child while your permanent teeth are still developing can lead to discoloration.
• Excessive fluoride consumption in drinking water while teeth are developing leads to lighter spots on teeth – this is known as fluorosis.

Professional Whitening Options

No two smiles are alike, and the whitening method we recommend will depend largely on the cause of discoloration. We offer both in-office and at-home whitening.

• In-Office: for those patients in relatively good oral health who want to see dramatic whitening results fast, in-office professional whitening brightens smiles up to ten shades in about an hour.
• At-Home: patients with more sensitive teeth or those who prefer to whiten their smiles gradually may want to try our professional at-home whitening kits. These kits include custom crafted application trays and professional-grade whitening gel. When worn on a daily basis as directed, they produce results similar to those possible with in-office teeth whitening in about two weeks.

Alternative Solutions

If whitening is not an effective solution for your smile, we may be able to offer other cosmetic alternatives, including porcelain veneers and dental bonding. These quick procedures are fast, virtually painless, and effective in concealing discoloration in addition to correcting cracks, chips, and gaps in smiles.

Invisalign^® & ClearCorrect^® Braces

Have you chosen to settle for crooked teeth because you don’t want to wear metal braces? Maybe you sacrificed for your children’s braces and now want to have their results for less cost and less time. A lot of adults who want a more attractive smile shy away from traditional orthodontics. We invite you to consider Invisalign^® and ClearCorrect^® clear braces.

Clear, acrylic aligners that contain no metal fit securely over your teeth. The comfortable, clear braces apply gentle pressure to realign teeth and create pleasing smiles and promote the proper formation of tooth alignment. Invisalign® and ClearCorrect^® both close gaps between teeth, straighten crooked teeth and reposition teeth that overlap. The aligners can be taken out for cleaning and when you eat a meal.

The doctors will scan your teeth and jaw to create digital images needed for treatment planning. A certified Invisalign^® or ClearCorrect^® lab will create your series of aligners from BPA-free acrylic. You’ll wear a pair of aligners for a couple of weeks before moving on to the next set in your series. Soon, steady progress will show you that your smile is on track for a major transformation!

Treatment time with clear braces depends on your unique situation, but the majority of Invisalign^® and ClearCorrect^® patients are finished with treatment in less than a year.

Porcelain Veneers

When you look in the mirror, do you see a smile worthy of the pages of your favorite celebrity magazines, or do you see flaws and discoloration? Patients who have years of chips, cracks, stains, gaps, and discoloration to deal with often believe that a significant amount of cosmetic or restorative work is necessary to correct their worn smiles, but the team at Kristoff & Associates Family Dentistry offers a fast, easy alternative – porcelain veneers, a thin sheath of dental-grade porcelain used to conceal and correct a number of smile flaws.

No treatment option is right for every patient. That’s why the first step in the treatment process is a comprehensive cosmetic consultation to determine whether veneers are the right option to renew your smile.

If we decide porcelain veneers are the best choice for your smile, we create a precise treatment plan. In most cases, creating and placing veneers requires just two short visits. During the first appointment, a small amount of tooth enamel is removed to allow the veneer to blend seamlessly into the natural smile line. Dental impressions are taken and used by a ceramics lab to craft a custom porcelain veneer, and a temporary is placed to protect patients’ prepared teeth. When the final veneer is completed, patients return to our office to exchange the temporary for the permanent veneer. When the final veneer is placed, patients can expect decades of flawless smiles.

Metal-Free Restorations

Dental restorations like crowns, bridges, inlays, and onlays are crafted from a number of materials, including gold, silver, and porcelain bonded to metal. Unfortunately, all of these materials provide durable restoration of dental form and function, but even the most cosmetically appealing option, porcelain bonded to metal, leads to discoloration within patients’ smiles. Additionally, patients who suffer from allergies or other sensitivities to metal cannot repair their smile with these solutions. Metal-free, all-ceramic restorations offer the most cosmetically appealing restoration option, as well as a viable solution for patients with metal allergies. All-ceramic restorations can be placed in the same fashion as their traditional counterparts, and in many cases, we are able to provide same-day restoration with metal-free restorations milled using the CEREC single-visit restorative dentistry system.

Digital Imaging

Digital images are perhaps the most significant advancement in dentistry because they allow our team to better inform patients about any treatment they desire, allowing them to feel completely comfortable with the plan they select. Many patients are unsure of what cosmetic dentistry treatment they need to achieve their desired results. The Kristoff & Associates Family Dentistry team utilizes digital images to help patients visualize their potential results before selecting a treatment option. During a cosmetic dentistry consultation, we’ll take photos of your smile. We are able to manipulate these photos to represent the transformations possible with specific treatment options. This is an excellent way to help the patient understand what can be expected following their desired cosmetic procedure. We also share before and after photos from some of our past patients.

Call to Schedule Professional Dental Care

If you’ve been noticing soreness, pain, or anything else making your teeth and mouth uncomfortable, don’t hesitate to give us a call and schedule an appointment. Reach out to our office today by calling 317-846-3436 at your earliest convenience!