With the rise of Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and other social media, kids today pay more attention than ever to smiles. That applies to the people they watch and themselves as they try to get noticed. In most cases, cosmetic dentistry would be an excellent solution that gives them better teeth — but is that a good choice for children and teens? While parents might hesitate to let their young ones receive such procedures, there are safe treatments that can help the age group. Read on to learn which ones are and aren’t suitable for kids.

Given cosmetic dentistry’s effectiveness, you may think that the field isn’t very old. You might even  that it sprang up all at once from some grand invention a few decades ago. However, the truth is the opposite: this dental work has been going on since the earliest days of humanity! To prove it, here’s a summary of how far cosmetic dentistry has come since it began thousands of years ago.