Smile Design

Smile Design

23/03/2017

Dentistry is constantly moving forwards as technology improves. As a dentist you are required, by the General Dental Council, to do a certain number of hours of continuing professional development (CPD) to keep up to date. 75 hours in every 5 yearly cycle. My cycle just ended and I had almost 900 hours! So to say that I am interested in continually developing within my profession may be a little bit of an understatement!

Most recently I got involved with something called Smile Design.

Subconsciously when we all look at a persons smile, we either find it attractive or not so much. Whether you want to or not, you automatically judge someone’s attractiveness or even how trustworthy they are, based on their smile. It is that important!

I am going to be honest, as a dentist I always check your teeth at first glance – I can’t help it, it’s what I do, and I love it.

So getting back to smile design – Smile Design is the art of creating the perfect shape, size, angulation and colour of teeth, to fit in with the shape of your face and lips. It also takes into account the way your muscles move your lips when you smile. We do this in order to create the most aesthetically pleasing smile possible.

We start by taking some photographs and communicate these to our chosen dental laboratory. The cosmetic dental technician then works through digitally with teeth of different sizes and shapes and spends time tweaking angulation until we are both happy with the appearance. Our software then enables us to show you a photograph of how you would look like with a bespoke designer smile.

If when looking at these photographs there is something you would like to change, we can make those changes digitally until you are pleased with what you see.

How amazing does that sound?

In order to achieve this designer smile in your mouth, we can then talk about what is involved clinically (at the dental practice) and if you require braces or aligners to move some teeth or implants to replace any missing ones.

This design process enables you to see the result before any treatment commences.

Together with the dental technician I have attended many local and international conferences and courses to learn these new skills. We are both full members of the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (BACD) and I am a member of the Irish Academy of Aesthetic Dentistry (IAAD).