How Dentists Design Your Dream Smile?
Having a beautiful smile is a wonderful asset. Your smile is what people rate as the most important feature of an attractive face, it is what people notice first about you! Your smile sets the tone for personal interactions. Your smile says a lot about you and how you care for yourself.
In first encounters, people make assumptions about you, right or wrong, based on the appearance of your smile. Ever notice how the first thing kids do when they want to alter a picture of a face is to blackout a tooth.
Many factors go into a beautiful smile. There is much more involved than just the shade or color and degree of whiteness. Other essential elements include angulation or slope, symmetry, relative proportions (one tooth to another), how closely the midline of the teeth follows the midline of the face, the curvature of the edges of the front six teeth collectively (an upward versus a downward curve). Also important is the shape of the biting edges of the individual teeth (smooth or jagged, sharp or rounded), whether the teeth fill the available space provided by the lips or leave large “black” voids and finally the length and width of the individual teeth. Another factor involved is how much gum is exposed above the teeth when you smile. Too much exposed gum is sometimes considered unattractive.
Teeth that are too short (square) or too long for the face can rarely be truly attractive even if the shade and degree of whiteness are perfect. While you and your restorative dentist can control the shade and degree of whiteness, the periodontist is the one who can properly manage the length. An orthodontist can also be helpful with this, but orthodontic movement often takes a long time.
Before any restorative treatment, your periodontist can use soft tissue (gum) grafting or movement of existing gum tissue to cover long teeth that have been exposed by recession. In the same way, we can lengthen teeth that have been shortened because of grinding by removing or moving gum tissue on the facial aspect. This is done in a way that does not compromise the health or longevity of the individual teeth.
The periodontist can also move the attachment of the upper lip so that only a reasonable amount of gum is exposed above the teeth when you smile. This reduces or eliminates a “gummy” smile.
By working together with you and your restorative dentist, your periodontist can help you achieve the beautiful smile you have always wanted!