Looking good feels great, and it actually makes us healthier.

What's the most noticeable attribute of a face? The eyes? They may mirror the soul, but experts have shown that it is the mouth that is the face's most prominent feature. The mouth is the first focus of attention and the decisive factor when others form an opinion about how you look.

How often have you seen a person covering their mouth with a hand when they laugh, or holding their lips tightly over their teeth when smiling? Maybe you know someone who tries to hide a space between the teeth with their tongue. Why cover up a fault when you can correct it?

Most of us know that help is available; unfortunately, many of us assume that aesthetic dentistry is for the select few, those who can afford to expend time and money to improve their smiles.

But as you read on, you'll find that it's not necessarily expensive or an amenity solely for a select handful of celebrities; it's available for everyone. This new concept in dentistry, this practical way to improve your appearance, this use of the tools of the profession to enhance a person's smile and facial characteristics-we call this aesthetic dentistry.

Aesthetic dentistry can improve appearances, and the aesthetically inclined dentist works to give beauty where it was lacking or lost. The work is often painstakingly slow. The aesthetically inclined dentist spends much time on such details as carving and staining porcelain crowns, repeated try-ins of dentures and fixed bridges, bonding over teeth to reshape them and close spaces, bleaching both "live" and "dead" teeth. Aesthetic dentists use many of the materials and techniques with improvisations of their own to help create illusions. But there is no mystery to what they do, only a significant time commitment and a new, two fold approach to dentristy that combines the old (the improvement of dental health) and the new (aesthetic improvement). The rewards of aesthetic dentistry are perhaps the most dramatic in the profession. The results are there: a beautiful smile, fresh confidence, and a more youthful appearance.