How important is your smile? You want to make a brilliant first impression, and a bright white smile is the first thing that people notice when they look at your face. Whether you’re going to dinner with friends or on a first date, your smile is something that people are drawn to.

Even though making a first impression in real life is important, everyday activities aren’t the only places your smile gets noticed. With the dramatic growth of social media, a bright, white, celeb-style smile is essential if you want to be online. Between Instagram pics, Facebook posts, and all the SnapChatting you’re doing, you want your friends to see the best you possible.

You don’t need to edit every picture, making your photographs look like someone who you aren’t. Instead, make subtle changes to boost your confidence and make you happier with how you look online. If you’d prefer real-life pearly whites over the digitized version, take a look at the cosmetic dentistry options.

Whitening procedures, dental veneers, and dental bonding are the most popular cosmetic procedures that dentists offer, according to the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD). Of these top three treatments, teeth whitening takes the number one spot as the procedure patients request the most.

If whitening is your top choice, understand the types of treatments to decide which one works best for you. An in-office procedure gives you the maximum whitening for your time. Instead of having to wear strips, gels, or trays for days or weeks, you’ll get a bright white smile in one or two office procedures.

The bleaching products that the pros use come in higher concentrations than the over the counter versions. This gives you a more effective treatment that lasts longer.

While an in-office treatment may come with a higher price tag than the drugstore products, in-office whitening also comes with a professional application. This helps to ensure that you get the whitest smile possible, in the healthiest way. You’ll also need fewer repeat treatments, meaning that you won’t have to constantly spend on whitening pastes or gels.

Some dental patients want a more permanent type of whitening. Even though in-office bleaching can give you a bright white smile, whitening can’t straighten your teeth, fix small gaps, chips, and cracks, or give your mouth an even appearance. But dental veneers can.

Veneers are thin ceramic coverings that fit on the fronts of your teeth. The dentist removes a small amount of the natural enamel from the fronts of your teeth and then bonds the veneers to the teeth. This makes veneers irreversible and permanent.

This cosmetic option is ideal for patients who want more than whitening. If you have other issues going on, such as a small gap in between your teeth or jagged edges, the veneers can cover these imperfections and give you a Hollywood (or at least Instagram-worthy) smile. If your social media pictures are filled with closed lips and crooked smiles, veneers can turn those around.

Bonding is another permanent procedure that can change the color and shape of your smile. If you shy away from smiling in photos because of chipped, cracked, or misshapen teeth, bonding provides you with a natural look that goes a step above what whitening can do.

Unlike veneers (where the tooth is covered with a ceramic layer), bonding requires the dentist to cover each tooth with a resin. This putty-like substance is then shaped and molded to create the ideal look for your mouth.