Toothsome technology
Advances in dentistry mean bright smiles in a snap
By Lisa Marshall, Camera Staff Writer

"I would never get a breast job or have a tummy tuck or have my eyelids fixed as I got older. But when you get your teeth fixed, it's like a window to your spirit," says Linda Trenbeath, a 55-year-old Denver singer who paid more than $7,000 to have her crooked, stained teeth transformed to perfect pearly whites. "It was very important to me that I went into my 50s with my smile."

She's not alone.
Technological strides in equipment and materials now allow dental patients to have their teeth bleached white in an hour, have a metal filling replaced with a tooth-colored enamel in 50 minutes and have an entire smile reconstructed -- as Trenbeath did -- in two sittings. aging baby boomers with more disposable income than ever appear to be lining up in pursuit of the perfect smile.

Since Mark Birnbach opened his Boulder practice 26 years ago, he's seen patient priorities shift from function to form. Where they once walked in the door with pleas to quell toothaches, they now want whiter teeth.

"That's the first thing they ask for now when they come in the door," said Birnbach, who, as a result, has shifted his focus to cosmetic dentistry. "As the boomers get older and everyone wants to look better and younger, this is the next adjunct."

Birnbach, warns that existing crowns and other dental work don't bleach, and decayed teeth can not be bleached, so some patients may need other work done before whitening.

He sends patients home with custom-made trays filled with whitening material. They wear them for one-half-hour twice a day for two weeks. Veneer makes difference

Trenbeath needed more than bleach.

Having grown up in rural North Dakota in the 1950s, she never had good dental care and always had bad teeth.

But by age 50, they'd grown stained, chipped and cracked. When she approached Birnbach for help, she was given three options: braces for four years and then crowns; dentures; or porcelain veneers -- thin pieces of porcelain that adhere to the outer surface of the tooth. She chose the latter, and they were applied in two long days.

"I'm confident I made the right decision," she says.

Baby boomers looking for a faster fix than braces love it, says Birnbach:
"I call it instant orthodontics."

For further information, contact:
Susan Lewis, PAIRELATIONS, LLC 303-804-0494, pairelate@aol.com