Whiter Teeth Can Say a Lot About a Person
The eyes may be the mirror of the soul, but most cosmetic dentists says it's the teeth that tell about a person's age, gender and such characteristics as aggressiveness, intelligence and sexiness.
The mouth and teeth, the six upper front teeth in particular, come second only to the body as a whole in conveying personality traits and emotional messages.
Some dentists interpret patient images according to their dentition, the two upper front teeth give away age; the lateral incisors signify gender.
If a patient is a size six, but her incisors look as though they belong on a heavyweight boxer, the dentist can reshape the teeth with a rotary diamond stone in one sitting, without even a shot of Novocain.
A slight reshaping can make overlapping front teeth seem no longer to do so.
A tiny fraction of an inch added to the small central incisors to make them appear longer can take five years off your appearance.
A space between two front teeth may make a man look like a hick, but, because of Lauren Hutton (high fashion model and actress), it can make a woman look very sexy.
Dentistry's current art form includes capping, veneering, bleaching and bonding, for anywhere from $100 for reshaping a tooth to $15,000 for rebuilding a face from the nose down.
Business is flourishing, ranging from appearance-conscious celebrities and international diplomats to victims of birth defects, accidents and "cosmetically botched-up" previous dental work.
Bonding, an increasingly popular dental procedure that adds a plastic substance to the teeth is the biggest thing to happen in dentistry in the last 100 years.
In the mid-1970s, bonding was restricted to repairing chipped teeth, but the development of a space-age dental plastic that is harder, color stable and polishes like enamel has opened up many new applications.
These include changing or matching tooth color, whitening teeth, closing spaces and masking minor crowding.
The mouth and teeth, the six upper front teeth in particular, come second only to the body as a whole in conveying personality traits and emotional messages.
Some dentists interpret patient images according to their dentition, the two upper front teeth give away age; the lateral incisors signify gender.
If a patient is a size six, but her incisors look as though they belong on a heavyweight boxer, the dentist can reshape the teeth with a rotary diamond stone in one sitting, without even a shot of Novocain.
A slight reshaping can make overlapping front teeth seem no longer to do so.
A tiny fraction of an inch added to the small central incisors to make them appear longer can take five years off your appearance.
A space between two front teeth may make a man look like a hick, but, because of Lauren Hutton (high fashion model and actress), it can make a woman look very sexy.
Dentistry's current art form includes capping, veneering, bleaching and bonding, for anywhere from $100 for reshaping a tooth to $15,000 for rebuilding a face from the nose down.
Business is flourishing, ranging from appearance-conscious celebrities and international diplomats to victims of birth defects, accidents and "cosmetically botched-up" previous dental work.
Bonding, an increasingly popular dental procedure that adds a plastic substance to the teeth is the biggest thing to happen in dentistry in the last 100 years.
In the mid-1970s, bonding was restricted to repairing chipped teeth, but the development of a space-age dental plastic that is harder, color stable and polishes like enamel has opened up many new applications.
These include changing or matching tooth color, whitening teeth, closing spaces and masking minor crowding.
