Improving the appearance of a smile is a design process like architecture involving multiple elements. To achieve the best results, the teeth, bone, gums, and lips, and how these anatomic features relate to one another must be considered. The movement of the patient's lips and the way they frame the teeth, for example, are major factors affecting smile makeovers that are often overlooked. Although the interest in esthetic restorative dentistry is increasing rapidly, many dentists do not take advantage of the available technologies to assist them in this field. A Picture Says a Thousand Words Smile design is mostly a visual process with a number of variables.
Many dentists try to communicate their design ideas with words, and models of the teeth.
Some include still photography, but these records may not convey the entire picture. The need to communicate visually becomes particularly evident when the dentist is communicating with the laboratory technician, says Dr. Friedman. The technicians are often working in an information vacuum with very few references from which to design and fabricate the restorations. Dr. Friedman proposes an entirely new level of communication. He uses the Mac to create multimedia CD-ROMs, complete with color digital photographs, verbal instructions, and an iMovie of the patient's mouth and face to accompany the traditional molds and prescription instructions.