One of the most gratifying practices in cosmetic dentistry is delivering perfect lower laminates. They are an exercise in minutiae: lower anterior teeth are the smallest teeth in the mouth and generally at least 50% smaller than upper anterior teeth, therefore everything from preparation, to fabrication and delivery of these tiny little ceramic sculptures is more challenging, not to mention the fact that lower anterior teeth-from an occlusal and periodontal perspective- are very vulnerable; therefore, more often than not, they come with a whole lot of other baggage like missing teeth, receding gums, crowding and periodontal bone loss.

The job of a great design is to give the appearance that none of those problems ever existed.

Here are two such cases from this past week. Above is a patient who has missing laterals (so she has 4 anterior teeth, as opposed to 6) and below for a patient with crowding and attrition. The latter is actually pretty straight forward from a design perspective. The former is more challenging to camouflage and make perfect. But I always love a good challenge. There’s a lot more to these cases but that’s a discussion for a future post.

Cosmetic Dentistry Is Aesthetic Judgement Applied To Restoring Teeth

It's a simple formula yet hard to deliver. WHY? Because there is no standard for a perfect smile. All the rules for designing smiles are at the end formulaic, which for the most part result in predictable and plastic results.

I would say the #1 reason patients hesitate to initiate a cosmetic dental procedure, aside from cost, is absence of a guarantee that they will like the final results.

In my practice I overcome this by making multiple trial temporaries and the agreement that a short term delay is better than living a life-time with less than perfect results. So when in doubt, I make yet another trial run of the final result, have my patient live with them for a week or two, before making a commitment to the final design.

The Understated Beauty Of Lower Anterior Teeth

The job of a great design is to give the appearance that none of those problems ever existed.

STANDARD OF CARE IN COSMETIC DENTISTRY

It's a simple formula yet hard to deliver. WHY? Because there is no standard for a perfect smile. All the rules for designing smiles are at the end formulaic, which for the most part result in predictable and plastic results.

I would say the #1 reason patients hesitate to initiate a cosmetic dental procedure, aside from cost, is absence of a guarantee that they will like the final results.