Science and art
dentistry since 1979
DENTAL AESTHETICS
When talking about aesthetic dentistry, one often makes the mistake of believing that everything can be traced back to precise concepts and rules. Parameters and principles that form the basis of this discipline must be recognised, but if we were to limit ourselves to these, we would only be able to reproduce an aesthetic that is entirely artificial and recognisable as such. There are thousands of texts and articles that attempt to demonstrate these principles, but none of them have succeeded in teaching us how to make a smile truly harmonious and natural. When observing nature, we will never find two perfectly symmetrical subjects, while we frequently find that we observe aesthetically harmonious figures even in their irregularity and imperfection. Beauty is a subjective evaluation. A smile is a game of balances and harmonies: teeth, gums, lips, face, person and personality. To be able to combine all these elements, a pool of skilled and experienced people is always needed to recreate a personal, harmonious and natural smile.
PATIENT'S REQUEST
First of all, it is basic to have an in-depth interview with the patient in order to best understand what his expectations and demands are. It is necessary to have a clear idea of why he does not feel comfortable with his own image and what he expects to achieve. Equally important is that the patient has a clear understanding of what the dental team has at its disposal and what it proposes: full mutual understanding in the initial phase is indispensable to avoid misunderstandings and wrong expectations. Photographs of the face and teeth are taken in order to get a picture before treatment and to be able to communicate better with the dental laboratory. Then impressions of the dental arches are taken. The dental technician will cast plaster casts on which he will make a ‘diagnostic wax-up’ (a wax simulation of the final result). This will allow us to make the mock-up (demonstration model)* directly in the patient's mouth.
THE FIRST PERCEPTION
The aspect that is unconsciously noticed first when observing a face is the smile because it is the brightest and clearest point and there is the greatest contrast between the whiteness of the teeth and the colour of the lips. Undoubtedly, a beautiful smile is synonymous with health and beauty, but how to intervene and what to do if we do not like our smile? In addition to cosmetic surgery, one can resort to what many call ‘cosmetic dentistry’. The goal should be to achieve a smile that the patient recognises as ‘his smile’, as if time had not passed, nor had he ever undergone dental treatment.
AESTHETIC TEST
A smile that uncovers little of the upper frontal area is a lacklustre and ‘old’ smile because in old age we lose muscle and tissue tone and tend to cover the upper teeth and uncover the lower ones. One of the first steps in rejuvenating a smile is to give importance and visual weight to the front teeth and give them a curvature that follows the lower lip, typical of intact, young and wear-free teeth. Today we can simulate the final result of an aesthetic treatment on the teeth, even before intervening, by performing an aesthetic test with the mock-up* which consists of a thin resin shell of the same colour as the teeth, which is placed on the dental arch, simulating different aesthetic solutions on the patient without intervening.
