Artistic dental restoration

Nowadays, more and more people are thinking about the beauty of their smile. After all, a good smile is not only a guarantee of beauty and self-confidence, but also an important element of the first impression one makes on others.

Artistic dental restoration is a gentle, fast, and personalized way to achieve a bright smile and improve the aesthetic appearance of your teeth. The dentists at Interstom Clinic work like sculptors, creating the true beauty of teeth.

The main goal of artistic dental restoration is to restore the correct shape of teeth in the event of deformation due to any cause or to give them a more beautiful appearance. The modern composite materials used at Interstom Clinic for restoration are highly resistant to wear and damage, making them a reliable choice for long-term dental restoration and a bright smile.

What is artistic dental restoration?

Artistic or aesthetic dental restoration is performed using modern photopolymer materials and achieves high aesthetic results—the restoration site is indistinguishable from natural tooth tissue. Thus, restoration allows for the restoration to restore the original shape and color of teeth.

Direct dental restoration results in the restoration of the aesthetics and original structure of the tooth in the patient’s mouth. Composite fillings are used as the restorative material. In cases of significant tooth loss, posts—rods made of fiberglass, ceramic, or metal alloys—are used. The posts are fixed in the root canal and act as support for the composite material.

Direct dental restoration helps restore the anatomically correct shape of the tooth using plastic materials. The modeling is performed by a dentist directly in the mouth. To ensure the most accurate match between the material and the mechanical characteristics of the tooth and its color, dentists layer materials of different shades and properties. The result is a complete imitation of highly durable translucent enamel.

The strength of photocomposites allows them to be used to restore both anterior and posterior teeth, which bear the greatest load. Many of these materials contain fluoride ions, which helps prevent the development of secondary caries across the entire surface of the filling. When restoring irregularly shaped teeth, their visual contours are often corrected, their angles are smoothed or, conversely, sharpened, creating a unique, individual smile. Modern materials are ideal for closing gaps between teeth, changing their shape, size, and color.

Direct artistic restoration has the following advantages:

• Requires minimal preparation of healthy tissue;
• Completed in a single dental visit;
• Multiple teeth can be restored simultaneously in a single visit;
• There is no need for the patient to wear temporary restorations;
• Regular restoration is easy to correct after a period of time;
• The cost of dental restoration is usually less than the cost of any orthopedic (indirect) restoration.

Indirect artistic dental restoration utilizes the aesthetic restoration of teeth using veneers, ultraveneers, inlays, and crowns. Indirect restoration is used when hard tooth tissue is lost and involves the fabrication of specialized orthopedic structures in a laboratory setting.

1. Diagnosis and Planning

First, the dentist examines the patient and determines the issues that need to be addressed. These may include decay, chips, cracks, or tooth discoloration. At this stage, the dentist and the patient determine the optimal color of the composite material. This is done using a scale—a strip with attached tooth models of different shades. The scale is raised toward the patient’s teeth, and the composite color is matched to the color of the adjacent healthy teeth.

2. Tooth preparation

Before restoration, the tooth must be prepared by removing plaque and decay. The dentist applies a special dental gel to the teeth, removing organic matter to enhance the surface’s adhesion. If endodontic treatment (root canal cleaning, etc.) is required during the procedure, it is performed to the required extent.

3. Tooth Reshaping

At this stage, the tooth’s aesthetics are restored through layered restoration, which involves the sequential application of several types of compatible composite materials. Each layer is cured with a special lamp. This technique allows the tooth to acquire a natural appearance in daylight. This layered technique is quite labor-intensive and requires attentiveness, patience, and a high level of skill from the dentist.

The success of the restoration depends on how well the tooth is isolated from saliva during the procedure. Moist saliva and the patient’s breath impair the adhesion of filling materials. Therefore, to ensure proper tooth isolation, a rubber dam is used—a latex plate secured in the patient’s mouth with a frame and clamps. Holes are made in the latex for the teeth to be restored, while the rest of the oral cavity is concealed beneath the rubber dam. This allows the patient to breathe freely, swallow saliva, and experience no dry mucous membranes, muscle fatigue, or gag reflex. The oral cavity and respiratory tract are protected from exposure to material particles and chemicals used during composite placement.

This way, the dentist models the tooth, reproducing its anatomical shape as accurately as possible.

4. Finishing

After the modeling is complete, the tooth is ground and polished to achieve a natural shine and smooth surface. This is done using polishing pastes and instruments with varying degrees of abrasiveness.