Dealing With Aesthetic Disharmonie

What is pretty and desirable is a subjective thing. Experiencing beauty is one of those things that is very hard to link to objective, physical appearances or qualities, although some guidelines will always exist. In the case of teeth,  most patients simply say they “just want a pretty smile”. Yes, but what if after having your teeth aligned, or whitened, or are getting a complete smile makeover, you realize that the things that you asked for did not get rid of the annoying quality, shape size, etc of your teeth? Or what if you and your dentist have a fundamental philosophical disagreement about the nature of beauty, which becomes apparent once the procedures are done and you are not happy with them?

The Issues

Usually there are three things that people can object to regarding the appearance of a tooth. The color, naturally, all of us want bright, pearly white smiles, given that the media makes us believe that this is natural and desirable. But some people have naturally more yellow or greyish teeth, despite being completely healthy. Then there is the shape of the teeth, some may feel that their teeth are too small, or too large, or just some of the teeth look like they may belong to someone else, because they protrude or are larger or smaller than the rest of the patients teeth. Not to mention that the alignment of teeth is also very, very important;most patients feel that their teeth are too crooked, have an unattractive slant, and makes them look funny when they smile. Indeed this is the main reason people seek orthodontic treatment, to correct their teeth so that they look pretty when they smile.

Solutions

The most important thing you can do is be as specific as possible with what you want; provide pictures if you can, give long detailed descriptions. If your dentist is not the most talkative person, ask them questions, make them explain the colors, shades, shapes, etc of what will be used. To get the right color for a crown, or for a whitening session, your dentist should have a color coded manual with the different shades that teeth come in listed in it. Select the shade you want (usually, this will be a capital letter and a number assigned to it, e.g: A3), and make sure you get what you are paying for. For optimal results, consult a cosmetic dentist,a san implantologist or an orthodontist does not need to know aesthetics at all, but a cosmetic dentist does.