Digital Smile Design involves the patient in the restorative or smile enhancement process, making them the co-designer of their own treatment by sharing objectives and expressing their desires and expectations with the restorative team. Photos and videos taken at several steps of the treatment improve the interaction between patient and dentist. Once the restorative technical requirements are combined with the desires and emotional needs of the patient, great results will be achieved – creating a path to a natural, confident and beautiful smile.
Nowadays having a mouth free of biological and functional issues is not satisfying for demanding patients. Their desire is to own naturally beautiful smiles that harmonize with their physical characteristics and most importantly with their personalities. DSD dentists are aware of all the contributing factors that are necessary to make patients more satisfied beyond conventional dentistry. Developing an artistic vision and a set of appropriate skills are needed in order to become a Digital Smile Designer. Each customized patient design can be clearly visualized and improved with the patient’s ideas. Therefore the DSD Concept allows dentists to implement these benefits for patients, creating a smile that reflects their own personality and greatly enhances the experience and the results for all.
The whole concept is based upon the analysis of the patients facial and dental proportions, utilizing a predetermined series of high quality digital photographs and videos understanding the relationship between teeth, gums, lips, smile with the facial features in motion and with emotion.
For my own journey in cosmetic dentistry, I first learned the analog version of digital smile design by creating smile templates by hand, showing patients the end point in their mouth before we started, conveying this information to the lab, all with a goal of creating predictability with the smile design process. It is a concept I learned from Dr. David Hornbrook who mastered this technique. Now with the advances in technology, we can do it digitally which is so cool. Digital smile design is the future and the possibilities for even more natural and beautiful smiles are closer than ever before.
