Cosmetic dentistry can require you to have tooth extractions and false teeth. It can put you under braces or retainers for a couple of months. You sometimes even have to put up with elastic bands on your teeth that are the bane of most dental patients. But for sure, you already know these things. So the next things that you need to know is how to prepare for your upcoming cosmetic dental procedures. These include: jaw thrusting due to speech habits; excessive jaw movements; excessive chewing; nail biting; massive sizes of food eaten; clenching of teeth; tooth grinding while asleep; jaw, shoulder and neck tension; and arthritis. Everyone could possibly contract or experience TMJ disorder. Thus, it is important to take note of the main symptoms of the condition, which include the following: inability to open the mouth widely; pain when biting or opening the mouth; tension in the lower jaw muscles; pain in the jaw area when yawning or chewing; painful gritting, popping and clicking of the jaw joint; locked jaw; and adjoining headache, facial pain and neck pain. These can include dental veneers, implants, gingival (gums) sculpting, teeth whitening and other procedures on both lower and upper dental arches. Full mouth reconstruction This procedure basically provides treatment to correct altogether the many functional problems with your mouth, your bite, related muscles, teeth and bone structure. So consider this first before proceeding. Cosmetic dentistry is actually a pretty minor procedure but it can involve several small ones that may affect your work life and financial standing. So before you decide to go through one, make sure that you are 100% sure of your decision. Otherwise, you are just going to waste your money and your time as well as waste the dentist s efforts but come to think of it, he is paid anyway. Ordinary dentistry just seeks to make sure that we have a set of fully-functioning teeth that we can use to chew our food. It makes sure that we do not have cavities and teeth that are rotting away. It emphasizes good hygiene and nothing else. But with cosmetic dentistry, the emphasis is different. Like cosmetic surgery, the emphasis is on the way we appear to other people. The Basics Of Cosmetic Dentistry Cosmetic dentistry is related but different compared to the field of general dentistry as we know it. For a short definition, cosmetic dentistry can be cited as basically involving aesthetics in sculpting the look of your smile all the way to the color of your teeth. Reasons People undergo cosmetic dentistry for a variety of reasons, each one dependent of his or her individual needs.