Helping to improve the appearance of your smile with a digital smile design

Doing a digital smile design helps to plan out a custom preview into the future. Each person is different and has a very personal concept of beauty; therefore, a personalized analysis is the best option when seeking to improve their smile’s esthetic. By having the opportunity to see a preview of themselves with the smile design, they become participants in creating their new smile. Allowing the dentist specialized in cosmetic dentistry to guarantee the final result.

What is a digital smile design?

The presentation of several images of different angles of a patient’s face with a digital smile design mounted over their original smile, showing crucial details such as shape, size, length, and color. This allows them to have a clear view of how they will look after their teeth restoration or reconstruction. An old technique used in the past was to present traditional plaster models reconstructed with gray wax, leaving only the patient’s imagination of how their new smiles will look.

To elaborate the replica of a patient’s teeth, they have to bite into the impression putty. This process takes several minutes and is not too comfortable. Later these models were articulated and waxed by hand, giving the work a handcrafted finish. This process took several tests of measurements to have the appropriate final design of the patient’s smile because the requested changes on the design had to be done by a dental technician, and these changes were not performed at the moment of the presentation, which is why the traditional way took longer and several more appointments. If these changes were not done or ignored, there was a high probability of the patient not being satisfied with the result of their smile design.

Supporting us with the best of technology

With current technology, our dentists in Tijuana take the necessary photographs of the patient, which are in different positions: front (serious, smiling), with and without retractors, with open and closed bite, three quarters, among others, to make the design as realistic and as personalized as possible. The advantage of having photos and video clips is that it’s possible to combine them with digital scan three-dimensional images.

A digital scan of the patient’s mouth or the model is performed to get that information into the design software, in which a virtual model is created, allowing us to place the photographs in the background or on the virtual model, thus being able to accurately visualize the smile, all according to the proportion and facial characteristics of the patient.

The main device used in smile designs is an intraoral scanner, which gives a complete 3D image of the mouth —enriching the measurements obtained from the scanner with the facial photographs of the patient, giving us a greater willingness to work with different positions and characteristics of the smile.

The advantages of a digital smile design

Now you can be much more active in the process and decide the length, color, thickness and shape of the teeth based on the digital montage in your photograph. Among other advantages, such as:

• The smile is designed and modified digitally.
• Allows the patient to view the results prior to treatment.
• You can see the results in the design immediately.
• The patient participates more actively in the design process.

A patient candidate for smile design should mainly have vital teeth supporting the process for veneers or dental crowns in Tijuana. Of course, the patient’s teeth’ health conditions and state are a significant factor of the utmost importance. Sometimes, another type of treatment is required, such as implants, prostheses, crown lengthening, orthodontics, etc.

It is always best to see a specialist for a full evaluation

Contact our team at Dental Alvarez, where we have our own on-site dental laboratory in Tijuana for the necessary process, as well as a variety of dental specialists to help you.