Reasons a San Francisco Dentist Might Pause Your Cosmetic Treatment

As a San Francisco dentist, we know that cosmetic dentistry is the ultimate combination of the two words, merging the aesthetically pleasing with the medically sound. As such, we have found that our patients are far more likely and willing to come in to see their cosmetic dentist than they are to go in and see a general dentist. Cosmetic dentistry is an elective, therefore making it much more fun. People would rather come in to have their teeth whitening done, place dental veneers, or work with Invisalign® than go in for a root canal or extraction. That is not to say, however, that as a practitioner of cosmetic dentistry, we are not often working in the realm of general dentistry as well. This stems from a condition we hear about most often with patients who are concerned about the overall health and well-being of their mouth. Coming in for an aesthetic fix, these patients are worried that the condition of their mouth, their own oral health, and challenges with these may lead to them being ineligible to get cosmetic dentistry solutions. This is a legitimate concern, so we attempt to answer it on an individual basis.

From an overarching cosmetic dentistry perspective, there are very few conditions that would actually prevent you from getting a procedure done. They do exist but are few and rare. On the other hand, there are a number of conditions people have, far more commonly, that could delay or cause us to need to postpone your cosmetic dentistry treatments until after we have dealt with this other issue. Underlying problems can cause your healing time to be extended, and sometimes even create unnecessary complications in the process of placing a cosmetic device. As a San Francisco dentist, we want to avoid this, so when you come in for your first consultation, we will provide you with a thorough examination that looks into any potential underlying problems in your mouth, gums, and teeth. If we discover something, we will resolve it before going to the next step in your cosmetic process. For some procedures, like teeth whitening, the influencing factors are smaller, and for other procedures, like dental veneers, where we have to actively remove some of your enamel to properly place the veneers, the factors we take into account are more numerous. In either case, our goal is to resolve them quickly and get your cosmetic dentistry treatment back on track.

The two most commonly found reasons for needing to delay the work being done by your cosmetic dentist are cavities that have not been treated and infections. A cavity is formed by dental bacteria dissolving part of the enamel with acid. As a San Francisco dentist, we do not want this in the mouth exposed to the newly corrected teeth, because it leaves open the door for infection or the spread of this decay. In the case of an infection, there is no way to allow an active infection to fester while we do any kind of work in the mouth. It is dangerous to the overall health of the teeth we are fixing and the other teeth, and so must be resolved before we can proceed.