Digital Smile Design – Know This Before You Try It
Are you one of the many people who tend to hide their smiles because they are unsatisfied with it? Do you feel ashamed, even a bit self-conscious because you do not have the smile of your dreams? Yes, oral health is quite important and having an oral health without any biological and functional issues is top one priority, but having a great looking smile is also important. You do not have to feel ashamed of yourself, everyone deserves a chance to show off their great looking smiles whenever they feel like it. Luckily for us, technology is progressing and new, enhanced techniques are developed each day. One of them being the digital smile design (DSD) – a new, innovative concept that will replace the old wax-up diagnostic technique.
What is digital smile design?
Up until now, dentists all around the world were using the old diagnostic wax-up method which has allowed them to plan the surgical procedure that is supposed to be performed. The wax-up method allows the team that is supposed to work on the patient, to plan the procedure, follow the progress and takes note of the present results. However, the old diagnostic wax-up method has its own weaknesses and the inability to show accurate details about lip dynamics, facial impressions, and facial functions are among the biggest ones.
Although with the use of the wax-up methods the biggest problems towards the oral health of the patient can be quickly solved, the problem of providing a great-looking smile to the patient is left unsolved. This is what got the researchers to think of a diagnostic method such as the digital smile design (DSD).
The digital smile designi is a new, innovative diagnostic method whose concept is based on the patient’s facial and dental proportions. The digital smile design providesiia series of high-quality photographs and videos in order to help the dentist better understand the relationships between the teeth, gums, and lips and the way that the patient smiles and his/her facial expressions. These are all features which are important when thinking of improving a person’s smile.
After all, it is one thing to fix someone’s teeth and improve their oral health, but it is not only the teeth that take part in the smiling process – it is also the lips, the eyes, the cheeks – everything that you can see on a person’s face, they are all features that need to be taken into consideration when giving someone a new smile. And the dentist is not the only one who takes place in this whole process – you as a patient have a saying as well.
You get to decide what would you like your new smile to look like because of your opinion matters. So far, there have been a few scientific researchersiii that have provenivthe efficiencyvof the digital smile design applied in various cases. There is no need to say that we are talking about a non-invasive, pain-free procedure that is safe to be used on any patient.
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Working process
DSD is a multipurpose conceptual protocol that makes it easier for people to get pearly whites and look like Hollywood celebrities. Although the term “digital smile design” may seem like a complicated process, it’s pretty straightforward. Before you get the million dollar smile, practitioner starts by examining the:
- Facial symmetry
- Facial aesthetics
- Relation of dental aesthetics to facial aesthetics
- Facial and dental midline positions
- Gum or soft tissue symmetry and harmony
- Phonetic considerations
Then, your doctor takes a series of intra- and extra-oral photographs followed by an impression of upper and lower teeth. During the examination process, doctors take a dynamic video recording. The primary purpose of this video is to demonstrate the movement of lips during different emotional expressions including your natural smile.
Successful completion of the project to give you a picture-perfect smile requires a team effort. All team members have a unique task and communicate with one another to provide a better visual perception, but also to educate and motivate patients. The result of this teamwork is a perfect plan to give you an ideal smile based on compiled images and data. What makes this method unique is that you get to see how your smile will look like before you even get it. You, as a patient, will see the visual presentation before anything else begins.
It’s important to mention that two to three visits are necessary for an accurate presentation and an ideal plan to make your smile look like you just stepped out of a Hollywood movie. The appointment usually lasts for about 40 minutes. After your examination is over, information and obtained images and data are sent to the smile designer and technician who creates a mock-up in up to one week.
Advantages of DSD
Now that you know what digital smile design is and how the process works, it’s important to address benefits of this approach. At this point, you’re still, probably, wondering about the whole point of DSD when you can schedule an appointment and see just any dentist around. Pearly whites require taking multiple factors into consideration and only DSD can make it happen. Digital smile design can be considered as a highly advanced method of designing and creating a smile that traditional methods can’t match. Let’s take a look at the most important advantages of DSD:
- The patient is a co-designer of his (or her) own treatment by sharing desires and objectives
- Improved interaction between dental practitioner and a patient
- Teamwork
- Latest technology for supreme efficacy and accuracy of examination
- Everyone can get DSD, from young adults to elderly, the process is safe, straightforward, and transparent
- A multidisciplinary approach that preserves health and hygiene
- Customized results because DSD specialists are aware no two smiles are identical
- No “one size fits all” approach
- Natural look, your smile doesn’t look fake and awkward
- Increased satisfaction and confidence which translate to other aspects of your life
- Greater control over the outcome of your treatment, everything is subjected to you
Conclusion
In conclusion, the digital smile design provides a great opportunity for anyone who is interested in improving their smile in just a few sessions while at the same time preserving their oral health. The digital smile design method detects any abnormalities, designing a plan to fix them and with that, improve the person’s smile taking in consideration a lot more than simply the teeth – watching over the lips, the cheeks, eyes and the whole facial expression of the patient. This non-invasive, innovative diagnostic method will open new doors towards the dentistry of the 21st century.[/read]