Have you ever considered getting a facelift surgery? This kind of surgery, called a rhytidectomy, is designed to reduce the appearance of age in the face. Over time, the muscles and skin in the face begin to sag, wrinkles and folds appear, and loss of fat can reshape the face. All these changes can make it so that as people grow older and look in the mirror, they begin to not recognize themselves.
Sometimes these changes are due to lifestyle choices, like smoking, sun damage, or stress. But some of these changes are unavoidable and simply accompany age: Gravity, loss of skin thickness and facial fat, and even simply genetics.
There are many different types of face lifts involving various placement of incisions and removal of excess skin. Some more effectively treat different types of wrinkles and folds, while others carry increased risk of damaging facial nerves, or come with longer recovery times. But there’s one thing all facelift surgeries have in common: They’re surgeries, which means they come with pain, risk, scarring, and above all, expense. In fact, the average facelift will cost over $7,000.
What Shapes the Face
Of course, skin and fat aren’t the only things that shape your face. Underneath all the soft tissues, the shape of the face is essentially created by bones, including the teeth. Everything below the nose is affected by the shape (or even simply the presence) of teeth. If your teeth have been worn down or lost, the shape of your face will begin to reflect that over time.
That means that changes to the teeth can also create changes to the shape of the face. There’s no need to go under the knife when you can kill two birds with one stone and get both a beautiful smile, and a more youthful face shape.
For example, since the front teeth create fullness in the lips, porcelain veneers applied to the front teeth can both improve the smile and fill out the lips. No need to get lip augmentation, which can be a surgical procedure and/or may need to be redone regularly.
Missing teeth? Dentures have come a long way and are no longer simply the source of cheesy, slapstick jokes in movies and television. Dentures can bring length back to the face, eliminating the sunken look that many people get with tooth loss. Dentures also stretch out the lips and add fullness back to the face, sometimes taking years off a person’s apparent age.
You may be surprised how much your teeth contribute to the overall look of your face. Just because you’re seeing more wrinkles and folds these days doesn’t mean you have to settle for not looking like you! Before you let a surgeon touch your face with a scalpel, talk to your dentist about how reconstructive dentistry can give you both a beautiful smile and a youthful face.
If you’re looking for an experienced cosmetic dentist in Columbia, South Carolina, call (803) 781-9090 or contact us online to make an appointment.
