Dental Planning
Cosmetic dental work entails more than simply applying a veneer to a tooth or slathering on whitening gel and letting it sit. Your Orléans dentist should discuss your goals with you and evaluate your current smile. Then they must use the tools at their disposal to try to achieve your objectives.
The dentists at St. Joseph Orléans understand that your smile is a reflection of who you are, and how you communicate. So we know that there are a number of factors that need to be considered when embarking on this journey toward a straighter, brighter smile.
How Do Patient's Expectations Factor In?
The patient's goals and expectations are the most important factors that our dentists consider before beginning any treatment. We try to understand our patients' primary complaints and concerns so that we can direct our treatment plan toward a successful outcome.
After a thorough assessment, your dentist will highlight treatment options and expected outcomes with you in order for you to make an informed decision about treatment. This allows you to give input and ask any questions that you may have.
With the help of dental technology such as the iTero scanner, our Orléans dentists can create digital renditions of our patient's smiles and even show them how their treatment will progress. This allows our patients to feel more confident in their treatment plans.
What are the factors dentists consider?
There are a number of things that your dentist will need to consider when mapping out your treatment plan and visualizing the end result. Some of these factors include:
Facial Aesthetics - The overall assessment of the smile must begin from a visual standpoint. Facial features and proportions are key factors in how your smile is going to look. Your dentist will look for asymmetries in the facial features. Notable concerns with symmetry can be an indication of skeletal or growth and development issues that may or may not have an impact on the patient's smiles.
Tooth Position - Current tooth position is an incredibly important aspect that needs to be assessed. Without proper evaluation, this can lead to the dentist attempting to obtain ideal results unsuccessfully when the tooth or root is improperly angled or is in the wrong position.
Upper Lip Length, Lip Position, Mobility, and Symmetry - When it comes to the appearance of your smile, your lips play an important role because they create the boundary for your smile. Overall lip mobility is simply the movement of the lips at rest to the farthest position that occurs when the patient spontaneously smiles and is proportional to upper lip length. Because a significant portion of the patient population has asymmetry of movement of the upper and lower lips, the overall symmetry of the patient's lip mobility must be assessed. This can result in more teeth and/or gum showing on one side versus the other, creating discord in the patient's overall smile.
Incisal Edge Position - The incisal (front teeth) edge position must also be evaluated in relation to the surrounding tissues as well. Generally, your front teeth should be parallel to your pupils.
Midline - The position of the teeth, and the dental midline in regard to the facial midline have to be assessed during the smile evaluation. It is important to evaluate the relationship of the dental midline to the facial midline in addition to the overall angle of the midline. If there are slight differences in the midline angle, it can be quite noticeable to many people.
Tooth Proportions - Overall tooth proportions are another key and critically important assessment that must be made by your dentist during the initial examination.
Microesthetics - Your dentist needs to assess and discuss the final colour or shade you desire. Ideally, they will select a shade that is naturally pleasing but aesthetically enhancing. The dentist should also communicate to the lab technician about desired facial surface texture, overall incisal translucency, and additional tooth characteristics including incisal effects, embrasures, tooth shape, and variations in value and hue.