At your wedding ceremony and reception, you'll exchange vows with your beloved, pose for photographs, and celebrate with friends and family. This means you'll want to look your best from head to toe, which entails selecting the perfect dress or tuxedo and all the right accessories. Additionally, you might be thinking about correcting any imperfections in your teeth so that you'll feel more attractive and confident on your big day. Here's how a dentist can improve your smile for posterity in your wedding photo album. 

How Can the Dentist Be a Part of Wedding Planning?

1. Teeth Whitening

If you have discolored or stained teeth, in-office whitening can brighten your smile by several shades. During the procedure, your dentist will apply hydrogen peroxide gel directly to tooth surfaces then shine a blue LED light to activate the solution, which lifts and removes pigmentation and debris. 

Best of all, professional whitening has a higher rate of success than store-bought kits. Since you may require more than one appointment or need to wear custom whitening trays at home, book your first appointment for teeth whitening a couple of months in advance of your wedding. 

2. Porcelain Veneers

If you have chipped or cracked teeth, small gaps between teeth, or more severe staining and discoloration, veneers can correct these issues. These thin yet durable porcelain shells fit directly onto tooth surfaces. Using molds or impressions of your mouth, a dental lab will create the shells in shapes and colors that match your natural teeth. 

Once ready, your dentist will use dental cement to permanently bond the veneers to your teeth. Since this requires at least two appointments, and the lab may need several weeks to create the custom shells, book an initial consultation a few months before your nuptials. 

3. Crowns

If you have more severely damaged or extensively decayed teeth, you may correct these problems with porcelain crowns, which are caps that fit over the whole tooth. First, the underlying dental problem must be corrected. Once you're ready for the crown, the dentist will create a mold or impression of your mouth, and a dental lab will fabricate a final product that fits your teeth and matches their color. 

Finally, dental cement will be used to adhere and bond the crown. This requires a couple of appointments and the custom lab design, which means you should start the process at least three months ahead of your ceremony. 

4. Dental Implants

If you have one or more missing teeth, dental implants can permanently fill any gaps. They feature titanium rods surgically implanted into the gums topped with abutments that hold custom crowns made to match the size, shape, and color of your natural teeth. 

Implants function and look like natural teeth, and they'll last for decades. Since this procedure is more involved, requires recovery time, and necessitates multiple appointments in addition to dental lab work, ask your dentist about implants eight months to a year before your big day.

Get a beautiful smile for your nuptials with help from High Point Smile Dentistry. This dentist provides teeth whitening, veneers, crowns, and implants to patients throughout North Carolina's Piedmont Triad area. Call (336) 884-4000 to book a consultation and visit the website to learn more about how they'll help you achieve optimal dental health.