Faster, cheaper, better ways to get one.

Want to improve your smile? Recent advances make cosmetic dentistry more affordable than ever. Here are a variety of ways—big and small—to make your smile sparkle.

Combine Cosmetic Techniques

Strategic use of expensive and less expensive cosmetic techniques not only saves your smile, it saves you money. Until recently you couldn't combine techniques. Today's new, finer bonding materials make bonded teeth (less expensive) shinier and virtually indistinguishable from porcelain veneers (more expensive). That means your dentist can combine bonding with veneers or bonding with bleaching to lower the total cost of redoing a smile.

While it's hard to generalize because each case is individual, there are some basic guidelines. "I usually redo the front teeth with the same technique to create a visual unit," says Marc G. Lowenberg, D.D.S., a cosmetic dentist in New York City. Trying to do any less—like just the front four teeth—leaves thicker, darker eyeteeth at the ends; the color contrast is unattractive. Other teeth can then be bonded or even bleached to match those front teeth. At $500 to $1,500 per veneered tooth, or $150 to $600 per bonded tooth,