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Beauty sells. Just look at TV, magazine and billboard advertisements. Everyone seems to be smiling, happy, and having a wonderful time. If two people with similar qualifications apply for the same job, which one has the best chance of being hired, the one with the yellow snaggle-toothed grin or the one with the gorgeous smile?

So many people in jobs and professions today are eager to move up the ladder of success, not realizing that improving their appearance could really improve their chances of achieving their hopes and dreams. In today's high-tech dental offices the procedures can be done quickly and painlessly.

Your smile is truly your best beauty feature. If you leave home without a beautiful smile, you are not fully dressed.

So what are the ways you smile could be improved?

Tooth whitening. This is a relatively inexpensive and quick way to get whiter teeth. The results last several years and can be touched up very easily. The process is a chemically induced bleaching of the enamel. This can be achieved in several ways.

• Dental office treatment with bleaching solutions and lasers. This is the quick method.
• At home treatment with bleaching solutions in a custom fitted tray made by your dentist. This method takes a couple of days, and you decide how white you want your teeth to be. It is relatively inexpensive and quick. The results last several years and can be touched up very easily at low cost.
• Do-it-yourself products, including adhesive bleaching strips, hot boiled mouth guard trays filled with bleaching solutions, and whitening toothpastes. These methods are cheaper than the customized procedures done by your dentist, but the results may vary.

Veneers. These cosmetic tooth facings are made either from composite resin or porcelain. They are bonded to the teeth permanently, resulting in a natural beautiful smile. Veneers can compensate for such minor tooth discrepancies as dark old-looking teeth, crooked teeth, unequal spacing, or variations in tooth length.

Inlays/Onlays. Those old ugly cracked leaking black mercury amalgam fillings can be replaced with beautiful bonded super strong tooth-colored restorations. Not only are they more attractive than traditional fillings, but they also are long-lasting.

Crowns. An aesthetically beautiful, natural smile may be developed using high-tech white porcelain crowns or "caps." With crowns we can cover the whole tooth, replace teeth that are missing, or rebuild teeth that are really misshapen or unsightly colored.

Natural-looking resin restorations. Cavities can be found very early by utilizing special stains made for that purpose and viewing them through the magnifying lens of an intraoral video camera. They then can be treated with lasers, without drills or needles, quickly and very comfortably.

Believe it or not, you can actually choose the kind of smile that you would like to have by selecting your favorite smile from a "smile guide" catalogue. And if your dentist is a high-tech dentist and has a computer imaging system, you can even get a preview of how you will look after the work is done!

If your smile could be holding you back, check it out with your family dentist. He can help you achieve that happy, confident, and attractive look of a real winner!

The author is owner and operator of Halifax Family Dentistry in Halifax, one of the most high-tech dental offices in Pennsylvania. He is a Master of the Academy of General Dentistry.