One old wide-spread saying can be paraphrased to state: ?One apple a day keeps the dentist away?. What if one apple is no longer enough for your dental care? What if, when you smile in your bathroom mirror, you notice that your teeth are stained, crooked, chipped, or simply missing? It's a good thing that there is one perfect solution for all these and many other problems: cosmetic dentistry.

Surveys conducted by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry showed that, during the last decade, cosmetic dentistry has become a thriving and successful industry. The ultimate goal of the modern day Americans seems to be the cosmetic enhancement that grants them an amazing straight, white, even smile.

Cosmetic dentistry offers a wide range of procedures, with pros and cons for each of them. The patients can get the smile they dreamed of in no more than two visits to the dentist's office. Not only that a smile can be transformed so quickly but with the advanced care provided by the cosmetic dentistry, everyone can expect to have a comfortable pain-free procedure whose results are more than attractive.

The risks associated with cosmetic dentistry are very few if none, keeping in mind though that it might be possible for some of the patients to experience minor discomfort immediately after the completion of the procedure and that it takes some time to get used to the new smile.

Also, cosmetic dentistry procedures may vary in cost from $300 to $35,000, depending on their complexity or skill level of the doctor. What makes the cosmetic dentistry more costly than the general dentistry is the higher quality of the services provided and, not in the least, the fact that they are not covered by the dental insurance. Also, the materials used in cosmetic dentistry, such as porcelain veneers, porcelain inlays and onlays and other non-metal dental materials, are more expensive but at the same time, safer, stronger, longer lasting.

In the makeover enhancement of your smile, cosmetic dentistry specialist uses special procedures from teeth whitening to a complete set of veneers, crowns, implants and orthodontics. Teeth whitening proves to be the most common dental procedure used in the cosmetic dentistry, with a 300% growth during a research period of 5 years (1996 to 2000), according to statistics. Doctors confess that, presently, patients prefer in-office teeth whitening rather than take home products (which makes them happy!). Nonetheless, we all should know the teeth whitening options made available by the cosmetic dentistry in order to be able to choose the one that best suits us.

Specialist agree in presenting three general approaches in the whitening procedure, namely whitening toothpastes (also called dentifrices), at-home bleaching, and in-office bleaching. All toothpastes with teeth whitening effect help remove surface stains only, while over-the-counter and professional teeth whitening products act not only on the tooth surface but also deep in the tooth. The efficiency of the whitening toothpastes does not even come close to the bleaching effect you can get from your dentist's office.

Laser bleaching is such an in-office procedure with systematic results, using different concentrations of laser light to activate the brushed-on bleaching solution. Though, laser bleaching is not recommended if you have old dental work, as it will not bleach bonding.

If choosing the at-home bleaching approach, there are four types of products to be used, such as: over-the-counter teeth whitening strips; over-the-counter teeth whitening gels; over-the-counter tray-based bleaching systems (with products purchased by yourself) and dentist supervised tray-based whitening procedure, in which case the whitening supplies are procured through your dentist's office. Teeth whitening strips and gels have initial results in a few days and final results sustained for about for months but the degree of whitening achieved is much lower than the results attained with in-office or dentist supervised whitening procedure. Moreover, teeth whitening over-the-counter products deprive you from the close supervision of your dentist to keep an eye on the progress of the teeth whitening process and rummage around for signs of gum irritation. In short, teeth whitening strips and gels are considerable less expensive (ranging from $10 to about $55) than the in-office whitening procedures, which can rocket up to $800.

To cut a long story short, cosmetic dentistry has hit a stunning boom newly, supported by the constantly increasing number of patients speeding up to dentists offices looking for the perfect smile. With almost non-existent risks and a quick recovery time, cosmetic dentistry can prove to be a great way to foster a person's career success and love life.