There cannot be many people who would tell you that they would not like a beautiful smile. However, if you are someone who feels it’s never going to happen because your teeth just aren’t up to the job, then this can be a problem.

Quite wrongly, many people assume it’s all about teeth whitening but truly great dental work comes from so much more. It’s about knowing what the best treatments are to give you the radiant smile you’ve always wanted.

To get the best out of aesthetic or cosmetic dentistry it’s important to have a good relationship with your dentist and feel that you can tell us the kind of results you want. Of course, part of this process of communication includes listening to what your dentist is telling you and then mutually agreeing the best way forward where it comes to treatments.

A good dentist will always want to set-up an initial consultation with you so that your aims and potential treatments can be discussed. In fact you should be very wary of any dental service that does not ask for this. If they are happy to promise treatment without having seen you then alarm bells should ring.

Preparing for your first consultation

It’s important to feel at ease when you visit the dentist for the first time but equally you should have an idea of what you’re thinking and feeling. In order to do this you will need to be realistic and not feel that when your dentist sees your teeth he or she is going to think “I’ve never seen teeth as bad as this before”!

If you’re worried you can’t communicate what you would like from a new smile, try taking a photo of your smile from the front. Look at it carefully. What do you / don’t you like about it? Try and forget it’s your smile and ask yourself what it is you would change if you could.

This will help you gain a bit more confidence and perhaps feel a little more in control of things. We all have fear and embarrassment from things but these are usually seated with how we feel about ourselves and not what others see. A good dentist will understand and will try to interpret what you want with the treatments available in order to get the very best results.