Every smile is the sum of five things. Once you can name them, you can stop guessing at treatments and start matching the fix to the actual problem.
Chips, worn edges, teeth shorter or narrower than their neighbours. Usually the quickest to fix — often in a single appointment.
Staining from tea, coffee, wine and smoking sits on or near the surface. Deeper discolouration behaves differently and needs a different approach — which is why whitening works brilliantly for some people and barely at all for others.
Crowding, gaps and rotation. Small issues can sometimes be disguised; genuine movement needs orthodontics.
The frame around the picture. Red, receding or uneven gums change how the whole smile reads — and gum health always comes before cosmetic work.
Grinding and acid erosion slowly shorten and flatten teeth. The problem people notice last and dentists notice first.
The one takeaway: most smiles people are unhappy with have two of these five going on, not one. That's why the same treatment gives different results for different people.
Lesson 2 puts bonding, veneers and whitening side by side — honestly, including who each one is wrong for.
Lesson 2 →