Cosmetic Dentistry

General Overview

An attractive, healthy smile makes a bold statement. It communicates confidence and quality to everyone. If you are self-conscious or uncomfortable because your teeth or your smile is in some way holding you back, you can have your confidence restored with a new and healthy smile. Maybe you are having trouble eating because of missing, broken, or painful teeth. Your smile can be predictably transformed into one of health, confidence, and comfort. At the office of Dr. Dwight H. Pate, we can create the attractive smile and healthy teeth you have always dreamed of.

Cosmetic dentistry is the art & science of enhancing your smile. This can be as simple as minor reshaping of teeth to improve subtle characteristics that can make a big difference. It may involve having one or more teeth treated with a combination of the procedures outlined below, or it can be a complete smile makeover, as seen on TV.

Whatever the cosmetic change being made, we put great emphasis on making the finished product just right for the smile we are creating. Our lab technicians get intricately involved with shade matching so that we can match a single tooth to the other teeth or an entire smile makeover to the face as a whole.

General Overview

An attractive, healthy smile makes a bold statement. It communicates confidence and quality to everyone. If you are self-conscious or uncomfortable because your teeth or your smile is in some way holding you back, you can have your confidence restored with a new and healthy smile. Maybe you are having trouble eating because of missing, broken, or painful teeth. Your smile can be predictably transformed into one of health, confidence, and comfort. At the office of Dr. Dwight H. Pate, D.M.D., we can create the attractive smile and healthy teeth you have always dreamed of.

Cosmetic dentistry is the art & science of enhancing your smile. This can be as simple as minor reshaping of teeth to improve subtle characteristics that can make a big difference. It may involve having one or more teeth treated with a combination of the procedures outlined below, or it can be a complete smile makeover, as seen on TV.

Whatever the cosmetic change being made, we put great emphasis on making the finished product just right for the smile we are creating. Our lab technicians get intricately involved with shade matching so that we can match a single tooth to the other teeth or an entire smile makeover to the face as a whole.

Smile Makeovers

The key to your perfect smile, like what you see in celebrities in the movies and on television, all starts with a comprehensive examination, an accurate diagnosis, and an appropriate treatment plan. See Comprehensive Dentistry. We take this information and design an ideal smile makeover. It may involve changing one or several teeth depending on the correction desired. Take a look at Designer Smiles to see some of the results others have obtained with Dr. Pate's smile makeovers. Then contact us to see one for yourself.

Cosmetic Bonding

This is a form of cosmetic dentistry that relates to having small changes done to teeth using tooth-colored restorative materials. This may be used to close a small space, repair a small chip in a tooth, repair a small area of decay, or repair other small defects in non-stress-bearing areas. Cosmetic bonding using tooth-colored restorative materials is not as strong and resistant to staining as porcelain veneers, inlays, and onlays, but for small cosmetic corrections, it is often a great option to consider.

With proper care, porcelain veneers can brighten your smile for well over a decade. Dr. Pate will ensure that your veneers are made from the highest quality porcelains available and are bonded with the most advanced and proven materials available. You can eat with your porcelain veneers just like you would your natural teeth. Of course, you should refrain from activities such as using your veneers as tools to open things, cut things, or crack nuts. Chewing ice is also potentially damaging. 



However, all these activities are just as potentially damaging to your natural teeth as well and are not recommended for them either. For all practical purposes, your laminated teeth are just like your natural teeth in terms of resistance to breakage. If incidental breakage or damage occurs, just like with a natural tooth, it is usually possible to replace only the veneer involved.


Porcelain Laminate Veneers

Porcelain veneers are thin shells of porcelain that bond directly to the front surfaces of the teeth. While fragile in the hand, when bonded in place, they are very strong and natural in appearance. They are often an ideal choice for improving your smile and have become increasingly popular because of their conservative nature, simplicity, and versatility. Placing custom veneers requires a high degree of technical skill as well as attention to cosmetic detail. Dr. Pate skillfully details and designs each one individually to match and enhance the characteristics of each patient's smile.


Nothing is more dramatic. Designing and delivering a beautiful smile that you are very comfortable with can change your confidence and perhaps your destiny. It is conservative because we remove only a thin layer of tooth (just enough to accommodate the temporaries, and then later, your final restorations, leaving the finished porcelain laminated tooth at the ideal thickness for the smile that you have always dreamed of).


When bonded to the teeth, the ultra-thin porcelain veneers are virtually undetectable and highly resistant to staining. When it comes to strength, appearance, and resemblance to healthy white tooth enamel, it is often difficult to do better with any other restorative options.

Porcelain Laminate Veneers

Porcelain veneers are thin shells of porcelain that bond directly to the front surfaces of the teeth. While fragile in the hand, when bonded in place, they are very strong and natural in appearance. They are often an ideal choice for improving your smile and have become increasingly popular because of their conservative nature, simplicity, and versatility. Placing custom veneers requires a high degree of technical skill as well as attention to cosmetic detail. Dr. Pate skillfully details and designs each one individually to match and enhance the characteristics of each patient's smile.


Nothing is more dramatic. Designing and delivering a beautiful smile that you are very comfortable with can change your confidence and perhaps your destiny. It is conservative because we remove only a thin layer of tooth (just enough to accommodate the temporaries, and then later, your final restorations, leaving the finished porcelain laminated tooth at the ideal thickness for the smile that you have always dreamed of).


When bonded to the teeth, the ultra-thin porcelain veneers are virtually undetectable and highly resistant to staining. When it comes to strength, appearance, and resemblance to healthy white tooth enamel, it is often difficult to do better with any other restorative options.

With proper care, porcelain veneers can brighten your smile for well over a decade. Dr. Pate will ensure that your veneers are made from the highest quality porcelains available and are bonded with the most advanced and proven materials available. You can eat with your porcelain veneers just like you would your natural teeth. Of course, you should refrain from activities such as using your veneers as tools to open things, cut things, or crack nuts. Chewing ice is also potentially damaging. 


However, all these activities are just as potentially damaging to your natural teeth as well and are not recommended for them either. For all practical purposes, your laminated teeth are just like your natural teeth in terms of resistance to breakage. If incidental breakage or damage occurs, just like with a natural tooth, it is usually possible to replace only the veneer involved.


Tooth-Colored Restorations

You do not need to have silver fillings any longer. Chipped & damaged teeth are repaired using composite that is sculpted into the defect and fused with bonded light technology for maximum strength and durability. The result is a filling that looks like a natural tooth. Larger areas of damage can be treated with Porcelain Inlays and Onlays.

Metal Free Crowns

The unsightly black lines seen at the necks of porcelain to metal crowns are now a thing of the past. Today's technology eliminates the metal and the problem.

Porcelain Inlays and Onlays

When the damage to a tooth is more than a filling can repair, often a porcelain inlay or onlay is the treatment of choice. This conservative innovation in dentistry allows us to repair the damage without the need to grind away as much of the natural tooth structure. A porcelain piece is made that is bonded in place to make the tooth whole again. With this, much less grinding is required. Less grinding is not only great news for the patient; it's also great for the tooth itself due to decreased insult to the nerve of the tooth.

Tooth Whitening (Bleaching)

If you are unhappy with your smile because your teeth are dark or stained, we can help you get it back. We use "Zoom Day White and Night White" a safe and effective, clinically proven method of whitening that is a significant improvement over those "do-it-yourself" methods. It is fast, easy & effective. This is done with a custom (made to fit your teeth) tray with a reservoir on each tooth to hold the Whitening gel. This is worn while you sleep or for at least 3 hours a day for a period of about two weeks. We have a maintenance program that allows you to "touch it up" later on if, in the future, you feel the need to rejuvenate the whitening.

Transform your smile with our cosmetic dentistry services. Call us now at (863) 967-1233 to learn more.