Smile Makeover Maintenance Tips: How to Make Your New Smile Last

Prevention plays a crucial role in oral health. Brushing your teeth, flossing, and eating healthy foods helps prevent cavities and gum disease, and visiting the dentist regularly makes it possible to identify any issue early on. This is especially true if you had a smile makeover in Columbus.

Patients often need these extensive restorations because a lack of good oral hygiene leads to extensive tooth decay. To ensure your new smile lasts while preventing any unwanted outcomes, here’s a guide on care tips for patients who have had smile makeovers.

The Importance of Protection of Your Smile Every Day

In life, the small things you do daily are often the ones that make the difference. For your oral health, it’s the same.

Maintaining a healthy smile depends on brushing your teeth after every meal, flossing at least once daily, and visiting the dentist regularly. However, daily life struggles can make it harder to maintain these habits, damaging your oral health to the point that you need a complete smile makeover to recover its health.

Committing to proper post-treatment care is then fundamental. By incorporating proper care habits, you can maintain the results of your makeover while avoiding potential complications. A beautiful smile is only one aspect of oral health; it is a gateway to well-being.

For example, failing to maintain good oral hygiene can result in cavities, gum disease, and even systemic problems like heart disease. Additionally, it may negatively affect people who have diabetes. Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that inflammation of the gums can make arthritis worse.

Therefore, people may considerably increase the longevity of their cosmetic enhancements while safeguarding their general health by practicing good oral hygiene and adhering to specific care instructions.

What Is a Smile Makeover and How Long Does It Last?

A smile makeover is a customized treatment plan that improves the appearance of your smile by combining multiple cosmetic dentistry procedures. This extensive procedure can treat a variety of dental issues, from discolored or stained teeth to misaligned teeth.

Smile makeovers often involve several different treatments in combination, from dental implants to customized veneers and more. For that reason, each smile makeover has its own durability.

Depending on the treatments involved and how well patients maintain their results, your results can last between 5 to even 20 years—or even a lifetime, with proper care, that is. However, some treatments that may be involved in your makeover, like teeth whitening, have a shorter durability of 6 months to 2 years.

How Long Does a Smile Makeover Last?

A smile makeover is not a one-size-fits-all procedure but a customized treatment that considers your smile and oral health goals. It aims to address tooth decay, damaged teeth, or loss in a single treatment to boost your overall health and enhance your smile.

To achieve that, smile makeovers combine various dental treatments. However, this also makes maintaining your smile after a smile makeover harder. To help you ensure the longevity of your new smile, here are more smile makeover care tips.

Oral Hygiene Practices

Maintaining good oral hygiene after a cosmetic dental procedure is essential. You should brush your teeth at least twice daily and floss once daily to avoid gum disease, cavities, and plaque accumulation.

Additionally, using a dentist's recommended products can help keep your smile looking good. Depending on the dental procedures you received, your dentist may recommend specific products, such as toothpaste specialized for veneers or an antibacterial mouthwash, to ensure your dental implants heal properly.

You need to follow this personalized advice. Learning from professionals and forming healthy habits is key to keeping your smile looking good.

Avoiding Damaging Foods and Beverages

Your dietary habits greatly affect your oral—and overall—health.  

Avoiding foods and drinks that can harm or compromise teeth, such as hard, crunchy, or sticky ones, is essential to maintaining the results of a smile makeover. Additionally, foods and beverages high in sugar and acids can cause plaque and tooth decay.

Instead, follow a balanced diet high in fruits, vegetables, and calcium and low in sugary and acidic foods. If you consume dark foods, like coffee or berries, rinse your mouth or brush your teeth immediately to prevent staining.  

Regular Check-Ups and Dental Exams

Attending all planned check-up appointments and routine dental exams—ideally twice a year—is essential to maintaining the results of a smile makeover. During these examinations, we’ll assess the success of your makeover while ensuring your smile stays healthy.

Issues like decay or gum disease can affect the longevity of your smile makeover, but we can prevent them by monitoring the smile's condition and swiftly addressing any emerging problems. Furthermore, routine examinations offer the chance for professional cleaning, during which we’ll remove any plaque buildup and keep your smile clean and bright.

Lifestyle Changes for Oral Health

Specific lifestyle decisions can impact the longevity of a smile makeover. Patients should refrain from practices that could harm dental work, like using teeth as tools, chewing on hard objects or fingernails, or smoking.  

It is acceptable to chew gum occasionally to relieve fatigue, but it is best to use caution and chew only sugar-free gum. Stress management is also crucial, especially for people who clench their jaws or grind their teeth. If this last case applies to you, getting a nightguard can reduce pain and prevent possible damage from grinding.

Mouthguards are also key if you practice sports. Hits during sports can dislodge restorations and even fracture your jaw if you have a dental implant. Moreover, tension in the jaw due to heavy lifting can result in intensive wear and tear, which can be very harmful to your dental restoration.

Quit Smoking  

Smoking is another very harmful practice that can impact your dental restorations and overall health in the long run.

Smoking reduces saliva production by affecting the salivary glands because it reduces blood flow to them. This increases the chances of developing cavities, causes dry mouth, and can lead to other oral health issues.  

Besides increasing the chances of developing cavities and gum disease, smoking can stain your dental restorations, affecting your smile makeover in both functionality and aesthetics.

Stay Hydrated and Rinse Regularly

Proper hydration is essential for overall health and mouth health. Water serves as nature's rinse, keeping the mouth fresh and clean while removing debris that, over time, may damage restorations.

Additionally, rinsing your mouth with water can be a quick fix if you cannot brush immediately after eating. It keeps your mouth cleaner and less acidic until you resume your normal hygiene regimen.

Keep a water bottle close at hand at all times; your smile will appreciate it!

Addressing Minor Complications

Even with the best care practices, minor issues can occur after cosmetic dentistry. Typical problems may include discomfort, swelling, or misalignment of restorations. To recover the health of your smile and keep these issues from escalating, timely communication with the dentist is key, so seek advice immediately.

Additionally, adjustments and refinements are often necessary as the mouth heals because the final appearance of dental work can change. For that reason, further fine-tuning is often necessary.

During touch-up procedures, we will address any minor wear and tear that may occur over time. These modifications can help address any discomfort or aesthetic discrepancies noted during follow-up visits.

Protect the Results of Your Smile Makeover in Columbus

With the right maintenance, the results of a smile makeover may endure for several years. Good oral hygiene, avoiding hard, crunchy, sticky, or staining foods, and making routine follow-up appointments are all essential practices to implement to guarantee your smile stays healthy and radiant long after the makeover.

If any issues emerge, addressing them promptly is key. If that’s your case, contact Spectrum Dental & Prosthodontics right away!