What Exactly Is A Smile Design?

A smile is worth a thousand words. – It’s true, even more so in today’s world. Today, it’s not just the celebrities who want a beautiful smile; the general public has grown more self-conscious over the years and is ready to do whatever is needed to get a great smile. This is where smile design helps- giving you a perfect smile to face the world with confidence!

Take Care of Your Beautiful Smile

Smile Design in Fort Wayne, Indiana, involves multiple cosmetic dental procedures to give you an attractive and pleasing smile. It is performed using minimal limitations while maintaining your dental health.

A smile design doesn’t just involve or affect the teeth. It also affects other facial elements like gums, teeth, lips, and face.

Factors to consider for a smile design

There are a few factors your dentist takes into consideration before performing a smile design:

• Age: This is important because aging leads to wear and tear of all body organs and tissues, including dental tissues. Age should be taken into consideration, especially if the patient needs or uses removable dentures, which have to accommodate the dental tissue.
• Sex: Not many know that men and women have distinctly different smiles. The design of a smile has to be formulated based on the patient’s sex and features.

For example:

• Females have rounder teeth, while men’s teeth are square.
• Females have more of the upper front teeth surface than men.

Dental health

Dental health plays an integral part in determining the right smile design procedures. Appropriate procedures rectify oral issues like replacing missing teeth or correcting misaligned teeth.

Similarly, your dentist also looks out for and provides solutions for oral issues like:

• Decayed or discolored teeth
• Spaces in between teeth
• Dark gums
• Flat, shorter, or longer lips
• Gum tissue overgrowths
• Gummy smile

Digital smile design

The digital smile design process helps your dentist:

• Make necessary smile corrections on the computer screen based on your photographs and radiographs
• Get an idea of your newly designed smile output before you undergo any treatment

It also lets you check and make necessary modifications to your future smile.

The smile designing process

As mentioned above, the smile makeover process combines multiple procedures to give you the best smile. Your dentist analyzes your teeth, gums, lips, etc., to determine the best methods for getting your perfect smile.

Some standard procedures they may include are:

• Root canal treatment for severely damaged or worn-out teeth
• Laser gum depigmentation for dark gums
• Teeth whitening for discolored teeth
• Gum surgeries to rectify spaces between teeth
• Crowns, bridges, or dental implants for missing teeth
• Tooth color fillings for minor dental decay
• Teeth straightening for misaligned teeth
• Gum reshaping of swollen gums
• Lip shaping using artificial fillers
• Lip surgeries to shorten or lengthen lips

Your dentist will first show you a mock-up and trial on plaster teeth models to give you an idea of the expected outcome. After finalizing the treatment, the dentist will start the smile design process.

A typical smile design takes one to two weeks, depending on what needs to be done. If teeth straightening is involved, you may see the outcome only after 12 to 16 months.