Shaping and Contouring
Sometimes minor adjustments on your front teeth can have significant enhancing effects on the overall smile. Some people may want to be super conservative and not have extensive work done to their teeth but still would like some simple improvements.
Shaping and contouring can be quite easily achieved with a simple treatment called ‘Enamel Contouring’. It can be carried out within a single appointment. This treatment involves reshaping the teeth and is carried out almost entirely in the outer enamel component of the tooth structure, minimising tooth sensitivity.
The process is safe and straightforward but needs some prior aesthetic planning.
Situations in which enamel contouring would be preferable include worn teeth with sharp edges and slightly crook teeth.
Enamel countering is primarily carried out on lower front teeth but can also be carried out on upper front teeth.
Indications of contouring enamel incisal edges of lower teeth include :
1. Reduce sharp enamel, which may compromise model accuracy, if any feather edges that may be present due to tooth wear may chip in the laboratory, creating an accurate bite
2. For aesthetics
3. To reduce the effect of any over eruption and improve and level the Curve of Spee
4. To create space for upper teeth visibility if the teeth need to be lengthened
5. To reduce lower teeth visible at rest
6. To shallow anterior guidance, which may be because of functional wear on the edges of the lower teeth and the back of the upper teeth.
This procedure works well with the following simple treatments:
- Enamel Contouring
- Laser gum reshaping
- Teeth whitening
- Simple orthodontic teeth straightening treatment
- Simple bonding of tooth coloured filling materials
Medically reviewed & updated on November 9, 2021
