The Facial Rejuvenation Clinic

When it comes to looking our best, many of us nowadays are choosing to give nature a helping hand. 
The Facial Rejuvenation Clinic at Davidson Smith & Associates offers several extremely effective and safe cosmetic treatments to help you achieve a confident and happy smile.

Softening Facial Lines

Facial lines are caused by the repeated use of the facial muscles in a particular manner, ie. frowning, squinting, smiling and laughing. Unfortunately it is not something that we can avoid, and whilst very few of us welcome these lines, mostly we accept them. 

However, with modern advances in cosmetic treatments, these lines can now be professionally softened, and in some cases eliminated, very effectively, safely and without expensive surgery.

The practice offers two different treatments - Botox® for the upper face and forehead, and Dermal Fillers for the lower face and the areas around the mouth.

Botox®

Botox® is very effective when used to treat forehead lines, frown lines between the eyes, crow’s feet around the eyes.
  
Its use for the treatment of wrinkles was pioneered in 1988 by two Canadian doctors who noticed a dramatic reduction of the wrinkles in patients being treated with Botox® for eye spasms. It has been used in medicine for many years to treat patients with tremors, problems with sweating and muscle spasm.  Applied correctly and in small quantities, it is very safe.

Botox® is a pure protein which inactivates the nerves supplying muscles and/or glands when applied to that area.  This prevents the muscles or gland from performing its function, thereby softening or eliminating the wrinkles associated with that muscle.

	This lady wanted to reduce the lines on her forehead. In both these pictures she is raising her eyebrows as much as she can.
	Here you will see the before and after picture of a patient who wanted her laughter lines (or crows feet) reduced.

This ‘freezing’ of the muscle is always temporary and lasts around 3-6 months.  As time goes on, if repeated doses of Botox® are given the skin smoothes further as the skin is not constantly being moved. 

Also the need for Botox® lessens over time - as the muscle is not used it weakens further so the effect of the Botox® not only lasts longer, but the muscles are not as active when it wears off.  This is why it is such a popular wrinkle treatment.

Dermal Fillers

Lower facial lines can be softened, and in some cases erased, by means of ‘filler injections’.  Dermal filler injections contain hyaluronic acid (or Restylane/Hydrafill) which is a natural product that is safer and longer lasting than traditional collagen.  It has a very low incidence of adverse side effects and contains no animal products so it is completely acceptable for vegetarians.

The dermal filler creates volume in the tissues so evening out lines, and filling out tissues such as lines around the lower face and lips, lips and some scars.

The filler lasts for approximately 6 months.  Adverse effects such as swelling, soreness, itching and redness can occur around the injection site, but these only last a few days.
Your practitioner will talk you through all the possibilities and will answer any questions you many have.

Tooth Whitening

Everyone loves a bright white smile and the feelings of confidence and youthfulness that come with it!  This, along with advances in tooth bleaching technology, has made tooth whitening incredibly popular in recent years.

However, if you have searched for information on the subject you may well be a bit bewildered.  There are so many products available and so many different ways to bleach teeth, whether they are over the counter products, in surgery procedures or professional home kits.

You may also have heard stories where something has gone terribly wrong, and these will almost always involve over the counter products that are used without professional supervision.

Our first step is always to give your mouth a thorough examination and to make an assessment.  From there we can recommend the most appropriate method of whitening. This will normally involve having a specially made bleaching tray made to fit your mouth precisely which can then be used either in surgery, or at home, but always under the supervision of your dentist. Everyone’s teeth will lighten following treatment, but as with most procedures, the results will happen much more quickly for some people than it will for others.  The teeth will remain bleached for a couple of years after which process will need to be topped up but this is normally cheaper and easily achieved.

If you are planning to bleach your teeth, you must ensure that this is done before other cosmetic treatments are undertaken (eg. crowns and veneers) as these will not bleach and may need replaced following treatment.

Dental Implants

Missing teeth probably have the greatest impact on the way we look and also affect how we speak, eat and even kiss! 

Rapidly becoming the most popular replacement for missing natural teeth, dental implants – where the root as well as the crown of the tooth is replaced – look, feel and function like real teeth.

As a result, they are as stable as real teeth and have none of the annoying and embarrassing problems associated with dentures and bridges such as speech impediments or hygiene issues over trapped food.

The procedure is routine and complications are very rare. However it is quite lengthy and complex and therefore expensive, but that doesn’t seem to be putting patients off.

Please click here for more detailed information on dental implants.

Cosmetic crowns, bridges and veneers

Crowns, bridges and veneers are commonly used treatments for improving the appearance of teeth, or for restoring heavily filled teeth to stop them breaking down.