Cosmetic Dentistry

Clayton Cosmetic Dentistry

Renew Yourself... and Your Smile!

Feeling self conscious can take up way too much of our time and energy. Focusing on something that’s wrong with our appearance can be incredibly limiting to our personal potential – and when that focus is on something as life-giving as our smiles, it really digs into the joy and fun that every new day has to offer. That’s why we are so proud to offer our Clayton neighbors the life-changing benefits of cosmetic dentistry. We want everyone to experience the joy and connection being able to smile freely and with confidence can bring!

Why Smiling is so Important

When you hide your smile, or simply try not to smile at all because you are embarrassed by your teeth, you are missing out on one of nature’s most powerful healing and connecting tools. You see, every time you smile, endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin are all released into your bloodstream. Why is that such a big deal? Not only do these neurotransmitters make you instantly feel happier, they can also help lower your blood pressure, boost your immune system, make you more productive and motivated, decrease pain, and even help you sleep better.

Plus, smiling is rewarding to those around you as well! According to a recent NeuroNation article, “Scientists found that seeing an attractive smiling face activates your orbitofrontal cortex, the region in your brain processing sensory rewards. This suggests that when you view a person smiling, you actually feel that you’re being rewarded.”

How Mooring Dental Can Help You Smile More

Our cosmetic dental procedures can correct a wide variety of dental problems, to release the magic of your smile.

  • Embarrassed by worn-down, decayed, or missing teeth? Full-mouth restorations can bring even the most damaged smiles back to youthful health and vibrancy.
  • Bothered by gapped, short, or deeply discolored teeth? Porcelain & minimal-prep veneers can create a beautiful new surface you’ll love to show off.
  • Worried about smaller chips or cracks? Composite bonding can artfully repair and restore almost any minor flaw you can imagine.
  • Is your smile dull and overshadowed by too much or uneven gum tissue? Laser gum recontouring and crown lengthening will gently remove excess gum tissue so your natural enamel can shine through.
  • Wishing you could zap years of stains and discoloration from your grin? Smile whitening brightens up to ten shades in about an hour!

Plus, because our doctors are always focused on both health and beauty, you can count on the fact that all of our cosmetic procedures are performed with your health in mind – and that all of our other dentistry services are accomplished cosmetically as well.

Porcelain Veneers

Porcelain tooth veneers are one of our most effective and popular tooth-perfecting methods. As the name suggests, porcelain dental veneers cover the surface of the tooth, creating a brand new, improved surface. These thin but durable restorations are custom designed to create just the tooth shape and color you have been wishing for and can be used to:

  • Create an even, white, uniform appearance
  • Transform crooked or misshapen teeth
  • Lengthen or broaden small or worn-down teeth
  • Strengthen and rebuild broken, thin, worn, or chipped teeth
  • Whiten even the most severely stained or discolored teeth

We start the process by discussing your desired outcome and planning the smile of your dreams. Once we have decided on your smile design, we will gently buff your teeth, shaping them to receive the thickness of a veneer without looking bulky or unnatural. We then take molds of your teeth and send them to our premier lab for the precise creation of your tooth veneers. Each veneer is individually crafted just for you. Once your veneers are bonded to your teeth, you will be able to smile with complete confidence, knowing your teeth are both strengthened and enhanced.

Minimal Prep Veneers

Are your teeth shorter than you’d like them to be? Slightly gapped? Chipped or broken? Stained too severely for whitening to be effective? Have you been wishing you could improve your smile but aren’t quite ready for the commitment of full porcelain veneers or crowns? Talk to the cosmetic dentistry team at Mooring Dental! We offer Lumineers, the minimal-prep veneer that can change your smile – and your life – conservatively and beautifully.

Lumineers are the #1 requested minimal-prep veneer system in the world, offering fast, efficient, ultra-effective smile transformations to patients of almost all ages. Lumineers are digitally designed to be about as thin as a contact lens, yet offer strength and longevity comparable to traditional veneers. Because minimal-prep veneers are so thin, they require very little tooth preparation to offer a natural appearance. Just talk to us about your needs, we will work with you to design the appearance you desire, and in no time, your gorgeous smile will be ready to show off to the world!

Full Mouth Restorations

Time. Fear of the dentist. Poor eating habits. Stress. Medications and illness. Accidents. Even pregnancy can take a toll on the health and appearance of your mouth. Your teeth might be damaged or deteriorated from stress-related clenching and grinding. Your smile might be out of balance, out of harmony, out of alignment. You might have a combination of issues from staining to gum disease and they are working together to ruin your confidence and your health. You may even have lost teeth to infection or trauma. That’s exactly what full-mouth restorations from Clayton’s own Mooring Dental are perfect for.

Full-mouth dental restorations can take even the most broken smile and restore it to the natural function and beauty nature intended. That’s because full-mouth restorations aren’t just one procedure. Instead, they are a customized treatment plan that combines all the elements of the dentistry we offer from periodontal care to get your gums back in top health to dental implants to replace one or all of your missing teeth. If you have lost hope of ever laughing confidently, eating with pleasure, and living life with a full and beautiful smile, please talk to us about how our full-mouth restorations can help.

Gum Recontouring

When you smile in the mirror, what do you see? Does your natural enamel take precedence or is there too much gum covering your teeth, making them look dull, uneven, or small? If your smile looks more pink than white because of gum overgrowth or gingival hyperplasia, or if uneven gum tissue is making your smile look unbalanced, gum contouring from Mooring Dental might be just the solution you have been looking for. Gum overgrowth can occur for a number of reasons including hormonal changes, certain medical conditions, vitamin deficiencies, braces, medications, heredity, or systemic or oral inflammation.

We use a soft tissue laser for most gum treatments including gum recontouring because laser treatments are much more successful and comfortable for our patients. When we use a laser instead of using a scalpel and stitches,
our patients rave about how painless and easy the procedure is with no bleeding, no downtime, and often, no need for anesthetics! Because the laser heals as it works, your gums can be recontoured and your pearly white enamel revealed with immediately beautiful results. You’ll leave our office looking and feeling great!

Crown Lengthening

It can be truly upsetting to discover that a tooth is broken off or worn down so severely that barely any enamel shows above the gumline. What can you do? Even the most skillful dentist can’t attach a restoration to nothing, can they? You have essentially lost a tooth! Relax! Crown lengthening is a simple and effective dental procedure that lengthens the crown of your tooth or teeth. In other words, crown lengthening repositions your gum tissue, and sometimes the bone of the tooth socket, to expose more of your tooth and provide an anchor to which we can attach any restorative or cosmetic restoration. No extraction necessary!

Because the Mooring Dental team is always on the lookout for ways to improve our patients’ experiences, we now perform our crown lengthenings with a laser instead of a scalpel. This allows for almost instant healing of the restoration site so we can apply your porcelain crown or veneer at the same visit without delays for painful downtime. Just bring us your hopelessly broken teeth and leave with a smile!

Composite Bonding

Composite bonding is one of our favorite ways to repair, improve, and beautify teeth, quickly, conveniently, and affordably. Using a natural-looking resin material we can:

  • Fill cavities in a way that does not compromise the appearance of your smile
  • Repair chipped, cracked, broken teeth
  • Lengthen and perfect irregular or short teeth
  • Reshape teeth
  • Close minor gaps
  • Cover and protect areas of gum recession
  • Camouflage discolorations or stains that can’t be removed through smile whitening

Because composite resin bonding is applied directly to your teeth, it takes an artistic eye and a skillful touch to ensure that this cosmetic restoration looks as natural as it should – and our Mooring Dental doctors have honed those attributes to perfection. We also take plenty of time with you to talk about exactly what you are hoping for, fully inform you on all aspect of the procedure, and precisely plan the exact shading, shape, and appearance of your desired smile. Composite bonding is so conservative and non-invasive that it is the perfect choice for children or young adults who need a little help feeling confident about minor flaws or damage, or for those who want a smile-makeover but aren’t ready to commit to more permanent solutions such as porcelain veneers.

Tooth Recontouring

Do you cover your mouth when you smile because your teeth are jagged or uneven? Are your canines longer than you feel comfortable with? Do broken or chipped teeth irritate your tender and sensitive oral tissue? Do you have a tooth that feels so rough and irregular that you can’t stop touching it with your tongue? Tooth recontouring may be the fast and convenient solution you have been looking for. Tooth recontouring is exactly what it sounds like: A procedure to smooth, reshape, and contour your dental enamel.

The Mooring Dental team can evaluate your needs and help you discover the smile you always wished you had by simply buffing away uneven, irregular, rough, or damaged dentin, reshaping your smile to perfection. Tooth reshaping can even improve your oral health by smoothing away crevices and tooth overlaps that can accumulate food, plaque, and tarter and lead to gum infections and cavities. Sometimes tooth recontouring is combined with dental bonding or other cosmetic or restorative dentistry to let you celebrate your smile instead of hiding it.

Smile Whitening

Have you noticed how dark people’s teeth look in older movies and how dazzlingly white stars’ and celebrities’ smiles look now? We think the differences point to advancements in cosmetic dentistry, especially the art of smile whitening. Smile whitening is one of our most popular methods for taking any smile up about ten notches – or ten shades, to be more exact. That’s right; cosmetic tooth bleaching can take up to ten shades of staining and discoloration off your teeth, leaving them whiter and brighter than you ever imagined was possible.

Smile whitening is also great for camouflaging minor flaws and imperfections, taking years off your appearance, and giving you the confidence boost you need to improve both your social and professional life. We offer both in-office and take-home smile whitening choices so you can whiten in the way that best suits your lifestyle. We choose Opalescence for both our in-office and take home methods for the most comfortable and effective whitening experience possible.

In office whitening takes about one hour and has dramatic and immediate results, while take-home bleaching allows you to whiten your teeth anywhere, any time, even while you are commuting to work! Smile whitening is a great way to prepare for a special occasion, give yourself a boost before an interview, or offer as as a gift to a loved one.