For some patients, wearing a face mask to guard against coronavirus also allows them to cover up the teeth that embarrass them, but that kind of concealment isn’t a crutch you want to rely on. Eventually, the masks will go away, and how your teeth look, feel, and function matters all the time. If you’re relieved to hide your teeth, it’s time to figure out what kind of dental care you need to better tend to your smile behind the mask.
Double Down on Preventive Care
If you have bad breath, your mask will let you know. Those odors are unpleasant, but not inevitable. Brushing twice a day and flossing once a day – at a minimum – keeps your teeth as healthy as they can be in between professional teeth cleanings.
Keep up with your dental visits every six months for a professional teeth cleaning, dental exam, oral cancer screening, and the opportunity to quiz your dentist about any oral health questions and concerns you may have. Your dentist’s office is one of the safest, cleanest, most hygienic places you can go under normal conditions – even greater care has been taken to keep you safe during the pandemic. Don’t skip your preventive dental care because you’re waiting for Covid to fade away first.
Fix What’s Broken Before the Big Reveal
If you have long been embarrassed by the condition and appearance of your teeth and embrace masks because you can smile and laugh without feeling self-conscious about your broken-down smile, take this time to spruce things up. Imagine how great it will feel to show off a healthy smile when masks are no longer needed.
Thanks to restorative dentistry, you can have an unsightly smile repaired with porcelain crowns or dental bonding, replace a missing tooth with a dental implant, correct problems with tooth-colored fillings, and more. Getting small problems corrected stops them from becoming bigger problems that cause pain and are more costly to correct.
Go for the Major Smile Makeover
If you have often considered cosmetic dentistry to improve the appearance of your smile, now is an ideal time to go all in. Wearing a mask means you can get Invisalign and change the entire alignment of your teeth without anyone knowing that you’re having work done. This treatment is discreet anyway – having a mask to cover everything up at the same time makes it that much easier to endure the rules of wearing Invisalign.
There are other cosmetic dentistry treatments that make a huge impact, and revealing your smile when the masks are no longer needed will be completely satisfying. Porcelain veneers can change everything you dislike about the aesthetics of your smile. Or invest in a smaller but just as impactful improvement, like professional teeth whitening.
The most important thing is to take good care of yourself in all ways, and that includes tending to your oral health, pandemic or not. Contact Smiles by the Sea in Hampton, NH, to schedule a consultation and discuss the kind of dental care you’re interested in pursuing.