{"id":9816,"date":"2020-08-17T16:49:09","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T23:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/?p=9816"},"modified":"2020-11-11T08:29:07","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T15:29:07","slug":"cosmetic-contouring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/cosmetic-contouring\/","title":{"rendered":"Cosmetic Contouring"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m pretty close to getting my braces off. My teeth look pretty straight, but the edges of my teeth look jagged. Is this something my orthodontist can fix?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Maddy from New York<br \/>\n(See Dr. Hall&#8217;s answer below.)<\/p>\n<div class=\"responsive-post-content\">\n<div class=\"post-left-column\">\n<script>\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(function(d, s, id) {\n  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n  js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\";\n  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">We thank our advertisers who help fund this site.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Square for mns blog - 2020 --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4419877247826466\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"6484616093\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-right-column\">\n<p>Maddy,<br \/>\nThe procedure is called cosmetic contouring or enameloplasty, and it involves re-shaping the front teeth to a more aesthetic shape. The re-shaping should be confined just to the enamel, and after shaping, the enamel is polished.<\/p>\n<p>While the skills involved aren&#8217;t highly demanding, the judgment involved is important. If the shaping needed is minor, many orthodontists will do this routinely to finish their case. If it is more involved, I would have it done elsewhere. I wouldn&#8217;t trust this procedure to a general family dentist, but would recommend you go to a dentist who has an impressive smile gallery of a variety of cosmetic procedures, or one who has a credential in cosmetic dentistry from the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry.<\/p>\n<p>The procedure is more demanding than it may look at first glance, which is why I recommend a dentist who is experienced with cosmetic dentistry procedures. When the lengths of the front teeth are changed, it can change your bite which can cause those teeth to move. Experienced cosmetic dentists deal a lot with altering the lengths of the front teeth and should be able to avoid creating this problem.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a couple of samples of cosmetic contouring.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a before photo:<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/cosmetic-contouring-before.jpg\" alt=\"close-up photo of a smile showing front teeth with uneven incisal edges\" width=\"399\" height=\"230\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9839\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/cosmetic-contouring-before.jpg 399w, https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/cosmetic-contouring-before-300x173.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 399px) 100vw, 399px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After careful shaping of the maxillary front teeth, this is the attractive result:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/cosmetic-contouring-after.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of this smile, after careful cosmetic contouring\" width=\"399\" height=\"230\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9838\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/cosmetic-contouring-after.jpg 399w, https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/cosmetic-contouring-after-300x173.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 399px) 100vw, 399px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In some cases, some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/toothbonding.htm\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">composite bonding<\/a> may be needed to finish the case. That is the situation with the patient pictured below, where the edges of the teeth have been shaped and some composite bonding has been skillfully added to the sides of some of the teeth:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/contouringbonding.jpg\" alt=\"two photographs of maxillary anterior teeth. The top shows teeth with jagged edges. The bottom shows them shaped to a more pleasing smile.\" width=\"362\" height=\"233\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9837\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/contouringbonding.jpg 362w, https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/contouringbonding-300x193.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 362px) 100vw, 362px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Dr. David Hall<\/p>\n<p>Do you have a comment or anything else to add? We&#8217;d love to hear from you. Enter your comment below. Or click here to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/askdr.htm\">ask Dr. Hall a question.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: currentColor; width: 450px; height: 80px; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mynewsmile.com&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=80\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m pretty close to getting my braces off. My teeth look pretty straight, but the edges of my teeth look jagged. Is this something my orthodontist can fix? &#8211; Maddy from New York (See Dr. Hall&#8217;s answer below.) We thank our advertisers who help fund this site. Maddy, The procedure is called cosmetic contouring or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[451,1287,115,1288,1289,358],"class_list":["post-9816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-braces","tag-american-academy-of-cosmetic-dentistry","tag-cosmetic-contouring","tag-dental-bonding","tag-enameloplasty","tag-jagged-edges-of-front-teeth","tag-orthodontist","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cosmetic Contouring - Cosmetic Dentistry Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/cosmetic-contouring\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cosmetic Contouring - Cosmetic Dentistry Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I&#8217;m pretty close to getting my braces off. My teeth look pretty straight, but the edges of my teeth look jagged. Is this something my orthodontist can fix? &#8211; Maddy from New York (See Dr. Hall&#8217;s answer below.) We thank our advertisers who help fund this site. Maddy, The procedure is called cosmetic contouring or [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/cosmetic-contouring\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cosmetic Dentistry Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-17T23:49:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-11T15:29:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/cosmetic-contouring-before.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David A. Hall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David A. Hall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cosmetic Contouring - Cosmetic Dentistry Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/cosmetic-contouring\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cosmetic Contouring - Cosmetic Dentistry Blog","og_description":"I&#8217;m pretty close to getting my braces off. My teeth look pretty straight, but the edges of my teeth look jagged. 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