Cosmetic Dentistry: The Art and Science of Smile Design

Creating a beautiful smile isn’t as hard as you think. We walk you through the process step by step, starting with a discussion about what you like and don’t like about your current smile.

I’ve found that many patients have a hard time answering questions like: “What don’t you like about your teeth?” or “What would you like to change about your smile?”

Often patients ask if I can’t just make their smile look like Julia Roberts or Jennifer Aniston. Of course, that smile probably wouldn’t look good in the context of your individual face. What we can do instead is design the perfect smile for YOU that accentuates your best qualities and makes a dazzling first impression.

Creating a beautiful smile isn’t as hard as you think. We walk you through the process step by step, starting with a discussion about what you like and don’t like about your current smile. We’ve developed a 15-point evaluation that successfully identifies every opportunity to enhance your smile.

Here are a few of the factors we’ll evaluate in designing your perfect smile.

First impression: Attractive smiles start with a pleasing display of the two front teeth. If they are crooked, stained, or worn, your smile may not be conveying everything you wish it to.
Tooth alignment: Imagine that there is an invisible line drawn down the center of your face. This line should fall perfectly between your two front teeth. Angled front teeth can be distracting and considered less attractive.
Proportion: The most visually pleasing smile has front teeth that have a specific width-to-height ratio. If they are outside of that ratio, your teeth can appear too skinny or too squat looking.
Smile line: The edges of upper teeth form a smooth smile line that follows the lower lip line.
Color: Tooth color should be naturally light with minimal staining. Our office avoids using porcelain restorations that are too white, which can look fake.

Together, we design a template for your new smile using trial crowns and veneers. With this template, you can see the changes and approve them before the actual work begins. Once you approve of your new smile, our staff translates those changes into porcelain veneers that can be bonded into place.