Many people’s experiences with dentistry are confined to treating toothaches and getting fillings, but that’s far from all that the field has to offer. Cosmetic dentistry allows you to deal with a wide variety of aesthetic problems with your smile, bolstering your confidence and improving your relationship with others.
If that piques your interest, you might want to invest some time in finding a cosmetic dentist who can help you with these treatments. Here’s some information that can help you to do that effectively.
What’s Cosmetic Dentistry?
Broadly speaking, cosmetic dentistry is the term for treatments that focus on making your smile look better, as opposed to those designed to treat specific diseases or conditions. Veneers, direct bonding, and teeth whitening are some common examples that you may have heard of. While some cosmetic dentistry treatments have health benefits, these are typically only incidental; their main goal is to help you look your best.
What Even Is a Cosmetic Dentist?
Cosmetic dentistry isn’t a specialty in the same way as, say, pediatrics or orthodontics. Technically, anyone who offers any kind of cosmetic treatment could call themselves a cosmetic dentist (and many do).
However, when dental practices adopt the cosmetic dentistry label, it usually means that it’s a core focus of what they do. They might have dentists on staff who have specialized training in aesthetic treatments, or advanced technology that makes cosmetic dentistry easy.
How to Find a Cosmetic Dentist
As you can imagine, a good first step is to simply google “cosmetic dentist near me.” This will show you dentists in your area who offer aesthetic dental treatments, or at least who purport to.
However, as you may have gathered, there’s no legal limitation on who can claim to be a cosmetic dentist, meaning that the onus is on the patient to separate thew wheat from the chaff.
To do this, you will need to take a closer look at the dentists that you’re interested in. When checking to see if someone is a good cosmetic dentist, you should look for any specific certifications or training that are specifically focused on aesthetics. Dentists who have these kinds of distinctions usually aren’t shy about them; they’ll usually list them on their website.
Ultimately, finding a dentist you like will involve trial and error. Talk to several, schedule a few consultations, and meet them in person.
About the Author
One of Dr. Raj Vekariya’s top priorities as a dentist, beyond just providing people with excellent dental care, is to make their experience in his office as easy and comfortable as possible. Dr. Vekariya initially began practicing dentistry in India before his desire to expand his horizons brought him to the U.S. Here, he attended New York University’s College of Dentistry where he received both his Doctor of Dental Surgery and his Certificate program in Esthetic and Comprehensive Dentistry.
If you have any questions about cosmetic dentistry, he can be reached at our website or by phone at (724) 300-3700.