A smile can be warm and charming, often disarming others you come in contact with. A smile says a great deal about one's personality but often if you're uncomfortable with the way your teeth look, it can easily be misinterpreted in your smile. Chances are, if you're embarrassed by your teeth, whether due to color, spaces, chips or crookedness, you might subconsciously be employing gestures to hide them. If someone appears to be guarded about their smile, it could easily be interpreted as being uptight or unfriendly. For instance, talking with your lips tightly pursed so as not to reveal your teeth might make one appear as the kind of person who's trying to hide something. Or in a more extreme example, you might even place your hand over your smile when you laugh, exhibiting insecurity and a lack of confidence. Often people train themselves to smile with their lips closed or not smiling at all. How boring!!

With the advancement and innovation of dental materials, cosmetic dentistry came to the forefront of our esthetically driven society. Cosmetic dentistry is that branch of dentistry that has married form to function to create attractive, if not perfect, smiles that function in a state of health with the individuals needs. Recent studies have shown that while most people are dissatisfied with their smiles, only a small percentage of them realize how simple it is to change their smiles. Cosmetic dentists help you determine how to improve your smile, thereby looking better and feeling better about your appearance. Whether the problem is the color of your teeth, the shape of them or if the teeth are chipped or spaced or simply that you wish you had an eye catching smile, cosmetic dentists can employ one or more techniques to give you the smile you once had or one that you always wished for. While areas such as periodontology (gums), implants, and orthodontics all play a role in cosmetic dentistry, the most common techniques for changing your smile are: bleaching, bonding, laminates, and simply reshaping or contouring your teeth.