Has Smoking For Years Made You Look Older? 2 Ways Ex-Smokers Can Take Years Off Their Faces
If your New Year's resolution is to finally quit smoking, then congratulations, because you are taking a great step to improve your overall health and will potentially save thousands of dollars each year after kicking the habit. If smoking for years has made your face appear older, then you are not alone. Smoking is one of the biggest causes of accelerated aging. After quitting, many of those signs of aging--like discolored teeth--will stick around, so here are some cosmetic dentistry ideas that can help you reclaim your youthful appearance.
1. Look into Strategic Tooth Bonding or Dental Veneers
Of course you want to whiten your teeth when you quit smoking since the tar and other chemicals in cigarettes have likely turned your teeth yellow or brown. Besides whitening, you will want to talk with a dentist, like P. Jeffrey Lowe, DMD, PA, about having bonding or veneers applied to some of your teeth as well.
When you smoked, you pursed your lips frequently to hold the cigarette and inhaled chemicals which cut off healthy blood-supply to your skin, thus resulting in increased skin laxity and sagging. How can bonding or veneers help? Both of these dental enhancements can be applied over your teeth to make them bulkier. Thicker teeth fill in the negative space between your teeth and the saggy skin, thus preventing your face from having a gaunt, sunken appearance.
2. Adjust Your Tooth or Gum Length
When obtaining your bonding or veneers, you can ask your dentist to perform another trick that can make anyone showing signs of age look younger. After the dentist is finished bulking out your back and side teeth to improve the sunken-in look of your lower face, have him or her use a little extra bonding material or a few veneers to lengthen your front six teeth slightly.
It is a little-known fact that front teeth begin to look shorter as your skin sags and ages; you may lose as much as a millimeter every decade once you hit 30. Although many people don't notice it because it happens so gradually over time, shorter teeth are one of the reasons people appear older as they age. Undergoing gum contouring is also another way to balance out the appearance of mismatched tooth length--especially if your past habits caused any gingivitis or gum disease.
If your New Year's resolution it to quit smoking, then erasing the tell-tale signs on your face can be a great morale boost that finally helps you stick to your resolution. Skip the temporary, cosmetic dermal injectables and make changes to your smile that last virtually forever.