Dental esthetics is a concept that perhaps falls a little short, since we are not only talking about the esthetics of the teeth but also about the effect that these teeth have on the patient’s face. In other words, the general public, the general public who are not dentists, do not interpret that a great influence on the beauty of a person’s face lies in having a beautiful smile. The lower third of the face is one of the most decisive aspects for appreciating a face as beautiful. Dental esthetics would be the contribution that dentistry makes to improve the facial appearance of people.
In what way can the smile influence professional activity? And in personal life?
The importance of a beautiful smile, both in a person’s personal and professional life, is drastic. A person with an unattractive smile or with teeth in poor condition (dark, misaligned) is usually a person with a more reserved character, who does not usually feel proud of himself. Therefore, the image they transmit to society, both in their work environment and in their personal environment, is not the right one because it is influenced by a factor of low self-esteem. This happens in general, since there are people who have poor aesthetics and have, equally, a high degree of self-confidence, but it does not happen very often.
But it is not only the lack of self-esteem, knowing that we do not have adequate dental esthetics or that our teeth make us feel ashamed, but also the image we project on others. These, without knowing that the cause is a nice smile, may see a pleasant face, may see a person to trust, simply because the image we extrapolate is clean, healthy, harmonious, beautiful.
For personal purposes, for example, we are more likely to hire a person to take care of our child if he or she smiles and has healthy, white teeth, since he or she will give us more confidence to treat our child than a person who smiles and presents absences, missing teeth, brown teeth, swollen gums….
The same happens in a more professional work environment, such as finance or customer service. Therefore, the influence on personal and professional life is very important.
How important is it to have a healthy smile?
As mentioned in the previous question, it is essential for several reasons: it improves our social relations, it improves our self-esteem and, finally, it should be added, with respect to the previous question, that a healthy smile improves our general health. It has been proven nowadays that teeth with gum disease (periodontal disease) have a high influence on the appearance of other diseases in general, such as diabetes or cardiovascular diseases.
In addition, a healthy smile is important in all aspects: mental health, good professional and personal relationships, and a contribution to the maintenance of a proper state of health.
How does the design and makeover influence dental esthetics? What are the most commonly used techniques?
Nowadays any change that occurs in the smile of patients is done by means of a digitalized design. Photos of the patient’s face are taken, as well as a scan of the teeth, that is, the patient’s mouth is digitized. All this is immersed in a software and begins to design a smile with some changes in the position of the teeth that go according to the personality and with the unique and facial characteristics of that patient.
In other words, it’s like drawing up plans for a house on the same piece of land. One patient will like it one way and another a different way. Applied to land, one client will like one type of house or another. And it’s all about making the plans and then making the modifications digitally, and once you have all the plans, the execution is much easier.
In the past, we used to spend 10% of the entire treatment planning and 90% executing. Nowadays digital techniques allow us to consume 90% of the patient’s treatment in planning and, being this so strict, it allows us to consume only 10% in execution. There is a saying that we apply in the clinic: “Failing to plan is planning to fail”, that is, not planning well is planning to fail.
The protocol we use is designed by the company Digital Smile Design. Nowadays there are many more protocols but this is the one that has been in use for the most years and with a greater technological development.