Patent ID: 7520747

Claim:
A method visually demonstrating an improved smile to a dental patient and setting the horizontal plane of a dental overlay; said method comprising: temporarily placing a demonstration dental template to overlay in front of the upper teeth of a patient; temporarily adhering said dental template to said teeth to allow removal of any installation device to provide an unobstructed view of the demonstration template to said patient with said dental template extending from the gum line to the incisal crown ends of said teeth and shaped and surfaced to mimic the look of natural teeth and having a proximate edge shaped to mimic the shape of the cervical margin of said teeth at said gum line; removing said demonstration dental template from said teeth; preparing natural teeth for installation of a porcelain overlay; applying a registration paste to envelope said natural teeth with said paste following the contour of a tooth plane of said natural teeth positioning said demonstration dental template on said registration paste to align a tooth plane on said template with a desired horizontal facial plane such that said template appears horizontal relative to the horizontal facial plane; setting said paste with said demonstration dental template in a set position; and removing said paste and demonstration dental template as an assembled unit from said natural teeth such that said paste has cavities corresponding in negative shape to said natural teeth forming along said tooth plane and with said demonstration dental template maintaining the set position to record the position of the facial plane of the template relative to the tooth plane of said natural teeth.