What Is Cosmetic Dentistry? Explained by a Cosmetic Dentist in Tunbridge Wells
Dr Simon Azimi, GDC 81382Published Reviewed and rewritten 7 min read
Where the line sits
Cosmetic dentistry is dental treatment carried out to change how teeth look, rather than to treat disease or restore function.
That is the whole distinction, and it is blurrier in practice than the definition suggests. A crown on a cracked back tooth is restorative — it is holding a tooth together. The same crown on a front tooth is doing both jobs at once. Most treatment sits somewhere on that spectrum.
The part that is worth knowing: brushing, cleaning between your teeth and regular check-ups keep teeth healthy. They do not keep them looking new. Age thins enamel, grinding wears edges flat, and tea, coffee, red wine and tobacco stain over years. Healthy and unchanged are not the same thing, and cosmetic dentistry is what addresses the second.
What cosmetic dentistry covers
These are the treatments most often described as cosmetic, and the ones this practice has pages for:
- Teeth whitening — lightening the natural colour of the teeth you have.
- Composite bonding — tooth-coloured material shaped directly onto a tooth to repair a chip or close a small gap.
- Veneers — thin facings bonded to the front of a tooth to change its shape, colour or alignment.
- Crowns — a cover over a whole tooth, where there is not enough tooth left for anything smaller.
- Bridges — replacing a missing tooth using the teeth either side of the gap.
- Implants — replacing the root of a missing tooth so a new tooth can be fixed on top.
- Clear aligners — moving teeth into a different position.
- White fillings — tooth-coloured repairs, which are restorative first and cosmetic second.
What it does not fix
Cosmetic treatment sits on top of dental health, not instead of it. Gum disease has to be treated before teeth are moved or veneered. Decay has to be dealt with before a tooth is covered up. A practice that offers to skip that step is not doing you a favour.
It also will not do anything about the reason you are unhappy if the reason is not really your teeth. That is worth being honest with yourself about before you spend money.
Is it worth it?
That is genuinely your call, and it is a reasonable thing to want. People who are self-conscious about their teeth tend to manage it in small ways — the hand that goes up in photographs, the closed-mouth smile — and not doing that any more is worth something. It is not vanity, and it does not need justifying to a dentist.
What we will not do is tell you it will change your life. Some of it is straightforward and some of it is a significant piece of work, and the only way to know which applies to you is to be examined and given the options in writing.
What to ask before you agree to anything
- What are my options, including doing nothing?
- How much tooth has to be removed, and is that reversible? (For veneers and crowns, it is not.)
- How long should this last, and what happens when it needs replacing?
- What is the total cost, including anything that has to happen first?
- What are your qualifications in this particular treatment?
That last one is fair to ask of anybody, and any dentist worth seeing will answer it without bristling.
Cost
Cosmetic treatment is not available on the NHS. Beyond that, prices vary widely between practices and between treatments, and anyone quoting you a figure before looking in your mouth is guessing. Ask for the full cost in writing before you agree to anything, and ask what is not included.
This post was published in January 2021 and rewritten in September 2026. It is general information, not advice about your own teeth.
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Reviewed by Dr Simon Azimi, GDC 81382 — Last reviewed: 7 September 2026