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Smile Design - A Guide for Clinician, Ceramist and Patient

The patient’s satisfaction with the outcome of aesthetic treatment depends, in large measure, on the clinician’s ability to understand the patient’s desires and in turn to communicate effectively with the dental ceramist. Facilitation of this three-way communication is the purpose of this new clinical atlas that documents many years of collaborative work between a world-renowned clinician and educator and a master dental ceramist. This beautiful, full-color book presents patient objectives, treatment plans and outcomes, shade selection, and other elements of the smile design (that is, arrangement, brightness, character, and incisal effects) in a spare and straightforward style. For the patient, the book serves as a visual guide to various restorative treatment options and to methods for previewing the aesthetic outcome of treatment. For the clinician, it is a communication guide to demonstrate the possible therapeutic approaches and to arrive at an understanding of the patient’s preferences. For the ceramist, it is a visual base for fully comprehending the desired smile composition, tooth shape, and nuances of shading. An indispensable adjunct to the practitioner’s aesthetic treatment armamentarium.

Preface
Successful collaboration between the patient, clinician, and dental ceramist is a key factor in the esthetic outcome of treatment. This team approach is a process in which the clinician must first understand each patient’s individual desires and then successfully communicate them to the dental ceramist. It is our hope that this book will be a useful communication tool for these partners in esthetic treatment—the patient, the dental team, and the ceramist—by presenting the many nuances of shading and aesthetic composition and arrangement that we have experienced during our many years of long-distance collaboration. To that effect, this book will serve three specific objectives:

1. A visual guide to show the patient:
• The types of restorative treatment available
• The type of tooth reduction indicated for aesthetic treatment
• The type of preview possible prior to aesthetic treatment

2. A communication guide for the clinician to:
• Demonstrate the possible therapeutic approaches, from the single restoration to the extensive interdisciplinary treatment
• Explain the various arrangement and shade possibilities available
• Determine the patient’s aesthetic preference: a natural smile, a perfect smile, or an intermediate natural and youthful smile.

3. A visual base and communication guide for the dental ceramist with regard to:
• The desired smile arrangement and composition
• The desired tooth shape and character (delicate, strong, or intermediate)
• The desired nuances of shading and incisal effects.