Hollywood has created an image of the state of California as being one of the most shallow and image based states in the entire country. Whether this is true or not, the fact remains that many people go to extreme lengths to look their best. Many people have heard of cosmetic or plastic surgery but not many people are aware that there exists something like cosmetic dentistry. In Orange County cosmetic dentistry is practiced by Raymond Choi and like its other surgical counterpart, this form of dentistry can help you achieve the smile that you have always wanted. While it is still concerned with general oral hygiene, the focus is more on the aesthetic look of a person’s teeth in the long run.

Orange County cosmetic dentistry uses a whole range of different techniques and procedures to help a person get the smile that they have always wanted. From complicated procedures such as dental implants to more common techniques that have been practiced by dentists for longer than people would think. Dentures also technically fall under this category of dentistry though it has only recently really been seen as a cosmetic enhancement rather than a practical enhancement.

Raymond Choi’s Orange County cosmetic dentistry practice offers a wide range of various procedures to help you get that perfect smile but there are four basic procedures which most cosmetic dentists, and even normal dentists can perform. The first is called whitening or bleaching and simply involves the cleaning and whitening of teeth. This can be done to remove discoloration on a tooth or teeth that have been stained for various reasons or it can simply be an annual cleaning of the teeth in general. For those teeth where whitening is not appropriate or not effective, a dentist may consider a veneer instead. A veneer is literally a very thin laminate that is bonded to the tooth. Like whitening it is used to remedy discoloration but is usually only used in extreme cases or, as mentioned before, where normal whitening does not work.

To create that perfect smile Orange County cosmetic dentistry may either use bonding or enamel shaping. Bonding is a process where a composite material that is a lot like enamel is placed on the teeth or tooth and is then shaped, hardened and polished. This method is used to repair cracks or unsightly gaps. A more permanent and radical method is enamel shaping where the dentist literally shapes the enamel of the tooth to remove cracks or chips in a tooth. Since this literally requires that the dentist chip away bits of a person’s teeth, this is a rather permanent solution.

Others procedures and methods support these four basic methods like dental implants, dentures, braces and other dental masterpieces. The Orange County cosmetic dentistry practiced by Raymond Choi offers these but so many other procedures as well. A perfect smile is no longer that hard to imagine with the new advances offered by cosmetic dentistry.