5 Dental Treatments To Enhance Your Smile

Article By Penelope Andersan

Our smiles mean a lot to us. According to the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, roughly 50% of adults think that a smile is the most most memorable feature after meeting someone for the first time. In the age of social media, there are plenty of tools out there to brighten and adjust our smiles in photos, but they can’t fix dental issues IRL. The good news is that cosmetic dentistry is more advanced (and popular) than ever and can give you a picture perfect smile in everyday life.

They are are different, cosmetic and medical dentistry are connected. “Everything that I do to restore function to the teeth and their surrounding structures is done in a cosmetic and aesthetic fashion,” Los Angeles cosmetic dentist Anjali Rajpal, DDS says. “With the materials we have today, decayed or worn teeth can be reconstructed with natural looking materials that also are highly functional.”

Here are five procedures that can help achieve a megawatt smile.

In-Office Teeth Whitening

When it comes to our smiles, most of us fixate on the color of our teeth. Teeth whitening, also known as teeth bleaching, is a quick way to enhance their appearance by removing stains and discoloration and brightening teeth.

While there are at-home kits, they are not as effective as working with a dentist. The over-the-counter, one-size-fits-all kits have a lower concentration of bleach and do not deliver strong enough results for some people. Teeth can turn yellow for many different reasons and each require their own call to action. A dentist will be able to find the right approach to get those whites pearly.

The overall process of teeth bleaching is quick and painless. First, a dental hygienist will clean your teeth and gums to remove any particles and bacteria that could interfere with the bleaching process. Next, the dentist will cover the gums to protect them and, after applying the whitening solution, will use a UV light to activate the bleach solution. This process may be repeated a few times until the desired whiteness is achieved. There are a number of different teeth whitening brands that offer in-office treatments, like Philips ZOOM, Brite Smile, or LumaLite, which with their own subtle differences.

Many patients only require one session of bleaching, but the number of sessions depends on the initial color of your teeth. Most teeth whitening lasts for about six months to two years, depending on diet and lifestyle, and typically run from $500 to $1,000.

Dental Bonding

Dental bonding repairs decayed or chipped teeth, closes gaps, or changes the shape of teeth. The treatment works by applying a durable plastic resin to the tooth. A special light is then applied to harden and bond the resin, which is the same color as the teeth, leaving an improved smile that looks natural. The entire process depends on how many teeth you are bonding, but on average, it takes 30 to 60 minutes per tooth.

Dental bonding makes for a quicker and less expensive alternative compared to other cosmetic dental procedures like veneers or crowns. It is also a good option for those who do not want to compromise the structure of their original teeth. However, dental bondings are less stain- and chip-resistant. With that in mind, they can be better for temporary fixes rather than long term solutions. To get the most out of dental bonding, avoid habits like fingernail biting or pen chewing and never chew ice or other hard foods.

Depending on location and person, dental bonding typically runs from $100 to $400. Dental insurance can sometimes fully or partially cover dental bonding, especially if it is accident related.

Enamel Shaping

Like dental bonding, enamel shaping (also known as enameloplasty) is a relatively quick and easy fix for small chips, uneven enamel, and irregular tooth shape. Unlike dental bonding, enamel shaping is permanent since the process, which is also known as stripping or slenderizing, involves removing small amounts of enamel.

Before commiting to enamel shaping, you should set up a consultation with your dentist to assess the thickness of your teeth’s enamel. If the enamel is too thin, you may not be a suitable candidate for the procedure and may want to consider dental bonding or veneers instead. The overall procedure is quick and involves your dentist using a sanding disc or paper to smooth out and recontour the teeth. Because some of the enamel is being stripped, the dentin is more exposed and can make your teeth more sensitive to heat and cold.

Enamel shaping is one of the most inexpensive ways to improve your smile and typically runs from $50 to $250.

Dental Veneers

Dental veneers, also referred to porcelain veneers or dental laminates, are an ideal option for those looking to fix chipped, misaligned, or irregularly shaped teeth and adjust spacing. The veneers are very thin custom made shells, made from resin or porcelain, that cover the whole tooth. Veneers are bonded to the front of the teeth and are dyed to match the color of your teeth. While it ultimately comes down to personal preference, porcelain is more stain resistant than resin and can reflect light off of the teeth more naturally.

Veneers are not to be confused with crowns, which are usually medically necessary, rather than cosmetic, are thicker than veneers, and require more enamel to be removed. While crowns can be used for cosmetic reasons, they are mostly prescribed for more serious issues like decay or breakage.

The overall process for dental veneers is more time consuming than dental bonding. Usually three trips to the dentist are required: an initial consultation, a visit to make the molds for the veneers, and a final visit to apply them. During the second visit, the dentist will trim off some enamel and take a mold to send to a dental laboratory to make the custom veneers. It can take up to a month to get the veneers from the laboratory, so often temporary veneers are applied in the meantime. To fix the veneers to the teeth, a special light is used to bond the cement, similar to dental bonding. Afterward, the dentist will remove any excess cement and make any final touch-up’s. Depending on specific case, a follow-up appointment may be needed.

Veneers achieve a long-lasting natural smile, but do have some drawbacks. Most importantly, getting veneers is a permanent solution. Because the enamel is removed and teeth are shaved down, the process is irreversible and some can experience heightened sensitivity to hot and cold afters they get them. Additionally, veneers are not indestructible. While they last longer than dental bonding, around seven to 15 years, they can eventually experience discoloration and chipping. They are also a larger investment and usually run around $1,000 to $2,000 per tooth.

Gum Reshaping

When it comes to enhancing your smile, most people forget that it goes beyond just teeth. Reshaping the gums can also make a world of difference. The procedure, also known as gum contouring, gingival contouring, or tissue sculpting, can even out the gum line and fix a gummy smile. There are a number of reasons why someone can have uneven gums; it could be due to genetics, health issues, or even certain medications. Gum reshaping can sometimes be medically necessary, like to cure gum recession, but it can also be done for cosmetic reasons.

Before the surgery, the doctor will draw out your new gum line directly onto your mouth and work with you to map out the desired results. Next, local anesthesia will be applied. The dentist or periodontist (gum specialist) can use different tools and processes to perform the surgery depending on your needs. Some doctors use technology like radiosurgery or lasers and others use more mechanical methods like scalpels. Depending on the structure of your teeth, sometimes it is recommended to recontour the underlying bone as well. This ensures that the results last and the gums do not grow back. The entire process typically takes one appointment.

Since gum recontouring is a surgery, it has a little more downtime than the other cosmetic procedures above. The recovery process involves taking over-the-counter ibuprofen pain relievers - but not aspirin, which can cause bleeding - and consuming only soft foods. Recovery time can depend on the method used, but pain should subside after a few days and the gums should heal within a couple of weeks. Depending on the severity of the procedure, gum reshaping can run from about $600 to $2,000.

Each treatment listed above offers its own unique benefits and for many patients, it is possible to mix and match to achieve the most desirable results. For instance, some patients combine dental bonding with enamel shaping while others get veneers along with gum contouring. Regardless of the procedure, Dr. Rajpal suggests patients always try to conserve as much as the natural tooth structure as possible.

Work with a dentist that specializes in cosmetic dentistry to come up with a game plan to achieve the perfect smile you have been dreaming of. “It is important to be treated by someone who has an aesthetic eye and who is highly trained in the latest techniques and use of materials,” Dr. Rajpal advises.

This article was sent in from AEDITION

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Why More Nigerians May Die Of Diet-Related Diseases

Nigeria ranks 42nd out of 195 countries with the highest rate of diet-related deaths, with low intake of whole grains being the leading dietary risk factor for mortality and disease in Nigeria, United States (US), India, Brazil, Pakistan, Russia, Egypt, Germany, Iran, and Turkey.

A study published in The Lancet yesterday by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) estimates that one in five deaths globally – equivalent to 11 million deaths – are associated with poor diet, and that diet contributes to a range of chronic diseases in people around the world.

The study tracked trends in the consumption of 15 dietary factors from 1990 to 2017 in 195 countries.

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study describes itself as “the single largest and most detailed scientific effort ever conducted to quantify levels and trends in health. Led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, it is truly a global effort, with over 3,600 researchers from more than 145 countries participating in the most recent update.”

According to the study, diets high in sodium, low in whole grains and low in fruits accounted for more than half of all diet-related deaths globally in 2017.

The authors said the causes of these deaths included 10 million deaths from cardiovascular disease; 913,000 cancer deaths; and almost 339,000 deaths from Type 2 diabetes. They disclosed that deaths related to diet swelled from eight million in 1990, largely due to increase in population and population ageing.

They noted that in 2017, more deaths were caused by diets with too low amounts of foods such as whole grains, fruits, nuts and seeds than by diets with high levels of trans fats, sugary drinks, and high levels of red and processed meats.

The researchers said the findings highlight the urgent need for coordinated global efforts to improve diet through collaboration with various sections of the food system and policies that drive balanced diets.

According to the study, “in 2017, there was a 10-fold difference between the country with the highest rate of diet-related deaths (Uzbekistan) and the country with the lowest (Israel).

The countries with the lowest rates of diet-related deaths were Israel (89 deaths per 100,000 people), France, Spain, Japan, and Andorra.

The United Kingdom (UK) ranked 23rd (127 deaths per 100,000) above Ireland (24th) and Sweden (25th), and the United States ranked 43rd (171 deaths per 100,000) after Rwanda and Nigeria (41st and 42nd), China ranked 140th (350 deaths per 100,000 people), and India 118th (310 deaths per 100,000 people).

The countries with the highest rates of diet-related deaths were Uzbekistan (892 deaths per 100,000 people), Afghanistan, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu.”

The authors said, regionally, high sodium intake (above 3g per day) was the leading dietary risk for death and disease in China, Japan, and Thailand. “Low intake of whole grains (below 125g per day) was the leading dietary risk factor for death and disease in the USA, India, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Russia, Egypt, Germany, Iran, and Turkey.

In Bangladesh, low intake of fruits (below 250g per day) was the leading dietary risk. And in Mexico, low intake of nuts and seeds (below 21g per day) ranked first.

High consumption of red meat (above 23g per day), processed meat (above 2g per day), trans fat (above 0.5 per cent total daily energy), and sugar-sweetened beverages (above 3g per day) were towards the bottom in ranking of dietary risks for death and disease for highly populated countries,” they noted.

The study evaluated the consumption of major foods and nutrients across 195 countries and quantified the impact of poor diets on death and disease from non-communicable diseases (specifically cancers, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes). It tracked trends between 1990 and 2017.

Previously, population level assessment of the health effects of suboptimal diet has not been possible because of the complexities of characterising dietary consumption across different nations.

The new study combines and analyses data from epidemiological studies – in the absence of long-term randomised trials, which are not always feasible in nutrition – to identify associations between dietary factors and non-communicable diseases.

The study looked at 15 dietary elements – diets low in fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds, milk, fibre, calcium, seafood omega-3 fatty acids, polyunsaturated fats, and diets high in red meat, processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, trans fatty acids, and sodium.

The authors noted that there were varying levels of data available for each dietary factor, which increases the statistical uncertainty of these estimates. For example, while data on how many people ate most dietary factors was available for almost all countries (95 per cent), data for the sodium estimates was only available for around one in four countries.

The researchers said the magnitude of diet-related disease highlights that many existing campaigns have not been effective and called for new food system interventions to rebalance diets around the world.

Importantly, they noted that changes must be sensitive to the environmental effects of the global food system, to avoid adverse effects on climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, depletion of freshwater, and soil degradation.

In January 2019, The Lancet published the EAT-Lancet Commission, which provides the first scientific targets for a healthy diet from a sustainable food production system that operates within planetary boundaries for food. This report used 2016 data from the GBD study to estimate how far the world is from the healthy diet proposed.

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Poor Nutrition Could Lead To Sight Loss

Scientists in the United Kingdom (UK) said an unhealthy diet including, high fat and cholesterol-enriched food could contribute to developing eye diseases, which may lead to vision loss. A new study from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom (UK) shows how retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells in the eye become damaged due to poor nutrition. The RPE has several functions, namely, light absorption, epithelial transport, spatial ion buffering, visual cycle, phagocytosis, secretion and immune modulation.

According to the study lead Dr. Arjuna Ratnayaka the study, also revealed a potential new treatment route through which the damaged cells, occasioned by poor nutrition, could be rescued before diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) develop.

Potential new therapies developed along these lines could offer new treatments for some AMD patients. Ratnayaka is a Lecturer in Vision Sciences at the University of Southampton. AMD is an irreversible blinding disease caused by genetics and external factors such as smoking, high blood pressure or being overweight. It affects the central vision, which is used for reading and recognising faces and is a leading cause of sight loss. In the study, the scientists analysed how disease-causing pathways triggered by poor nutrition could impact RPE cells. Damage to RPE cells occur at the onset of AMD, making them less equipped to support eye’s photoreceptors, the cells in the retina which respond to light. The death of photore ceptors lead to permanent sight-loss.

The study determined how healthy RPE cells breakdown by-products generated by daily activities of photoreceptors through the cells’ waste disposal system (which terminates in small vesicles called lysosomes). Scientists found healthy RPE cells had a considerable degree of flexibility to cope with changing conditions in the ageing eye, whereas a high fat diet can disrupt this breakdown process in RPE cells, thus causing long term damage and subsequently sight-loss.

 

Ratnayaka said, “We also found that some lysosomes appeared to remain undamaged even in such stressed RPE, suggesting an altogether new way in which damaged cells could be rescued to prevent eventual sight-loss. “As our results showed how the waste disposal system of the RPE becomes damaged by unhealthy diet-driven disease pathways; our next step is to find out whether this type of damage can be reversed through better nutrition and if stressed or damaged RPE cells can possibly be rescued.”

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Marijuana During Pregnancy Raises Child’s Psychosis Risk

Researchers in the United States (US) said children born to mothers who used marijuana during pregnancy might be at increased risk for psychosis. These are the findings of a new study published in the journal ‘JAMA Psychiatry’. Psychosis is an umbrella term, meaning that an individual has sensory experiences of things that do not exist and/or beliefs with no basis in reality. During a psychotic episode, an individual may experience hallucinations and/or delusions.

Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant used for medical or recreational purposes. The main psychoactive part of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol, one of 483 known compounds in the plant, including at least 65 other cannabinoids.

The researchers at Washington University in St. Louis analysed data from an on-going nationwide study of child health and brain development. They further explained that Endocannabinoids were part of the naturally occurring neurotransmitter network through which cannabis affects the brain, the researchers. Lead author of the study Jeremy Fine and an undergraduate student majoring in psychological and brain sciences said, “Our research shows that prenatal marijuana exposure after maternal knowledge of pregnancy is associated with a small increase in psychosis proneness during middle childhood or about age 10.” On his part, the study’s senior author, Ryan Bogdan who is Bogdan is an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences, pointed out that the “study raises the intriguing possibility there may be developmental windows during which cannabis exposure may be more likely to increase psychosis risk.”

According to Bogdan, “One possible explanation for the finding of increased psychosis risk for marijuana use following, but not before, knowledge of pregnancy is that the endocannabinoid receptor system may not be in place during the early weeks of pregnancy.”

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New Stool Test Could Spot Liver Disease Years Before Symptoms

Health experts in the United States (US) have raised hope for thousands of patients that are down with liver disease, saying a stool test could detect the condition before symptoms arise without the need for invasive tests. These are the findings of a new study published in the journal ‘Nature Communications’.

The new method looks at bacteria in stool, which can tell doctors if non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is at an early or advanced stage. The stool-based microbiome diagnostic could be available within five years and would cost around £300, the ‘Mailonline’ reported. According to a Professor of Medicine Dr. Rohit Loomba who is part of the research team said, “If we are better able to diagnose NAFLD-related cirrhosis, we will be better at enrolling the right types of patients in clinical trials, and ultimately will be better equipped to prevent and treat it.

“This latest advance toward a non-invasive stool test for NAFLDcirrhosis may also help pave the way for other microbiome-based diagnostics and therapeutics, and better enable us to provide personalised, or precision, medicine for a number of conditions.” Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is when excess fat builds up in the liver due to causes other than alcohol use. NAFLD is related to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. It can be diagnosed by a liver biopsy. Treatment is generally with weight loss by dietary changes and exercise. If left undetected, NAFLD can develop into serious liver damage, including cirrhosis, but it is incredibly difficult to catch early because there are few symptoms and it requires surgery. The estimated prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) worldwide is approximately 25 per cent. However, the real prevalence of NAFLD and the associated disorders is unknown mainly because reliable and applicable diagnostic tests are lacking.

However, researchers at the University of California (UC), San Diego, has identified unique patterns of bacterial species in the stool of people with the condition. The team identified 27 unique bacterial features unique to the gut microbiomes, and thus stool, of people with NAFLD-cirrhosis. They were able to use this non-invasive stool test to pick out the people with known NAFLDcirrhosis with 92 per cent accuracy. But more importantly, the test allowed them to differentiate the firstdegree relative with previously undiagnosed NAFLD-cirrhosis with 87 per cent accuracy. The results were confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging.

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Re-used Cooking Oil May Trigger Breast Cancer Spread

Nutritionists have long discouraged the re-use of cooking oil including vegetable oil, soybean oil, and others, raising alert that such practice could be harmful to health. Now, a recent study in mice showed that reheated cooking oil might trigger cell changes that could promote late-stage breast cancer growth. These findings have been reported in the journal ‘Cancer Prevention Research’ to this end. The American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends that women at average risk for breast cancer should start having annual routine mammograms at the age of 45 years. Even if a person has no signs or symptoms, mammograms can help detect breast cancer at an early stage, which is when treatment is most likely to be successful.

According to the researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, United States (US), who tested “thermally abused frying oil,” which is cooking oil that has undergone reheating to high temperatures multiple times, in laboratory mice, they found that it increased metastatic breast cancer growth. Metastatic breast cancer (also called stage IV) is breast cancer that has spread to another part of the body, most commonly the liver, brain, bones, or lungs. Breast cancer is a disease in which cells in the breast grow out of control.

There are different kinds of breast cancer. Most breast cancers begin in the ducts or lobules. Breast cancer can spread outside the breast through blood vessels and lymph vessels. Cancer cells can break away from the original tumour in the breast and travel to other parts of the body through the bloodstream or the lymphatic system, which is a large network of nodes and vessels that works to remove bacteria, viruses, and cellular waste products.

Breast cancer can come back in another part of the body months or years after the original diagnosis and treatment. Nearly 30 per cent of women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer will develop metastatic disease. Some people have metastatic breast cancer when they are first diagnosed with breast cancer (called “de novo metastatic”). This means that the cancer in the breast wasn’t detected before it spread to another part of the body. In the current study, the scientists fed all of the lab mice a low-fat diet for a week. Then, they gave some of the mice unheated fresh soybean oil for 16 weeks while the rest ingested thermally abused oil instead.

They chose to use soybean oil because the restaurant industry commonly uses it for deep frying. To simulate breast cancer, they injected 4T1 breast cancer cells into a tibia of each mouse. These breast cancer cells were very aggressive and have a high rate of metastasis to multiple distant sites. As a result, they often appear in the lymph nodes, liver, and lungs.

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