Esthetic Dentistry – Visual and Functional Dental Goals

Esthetic dentistry concentrates on improving the appearance and function of a patient’s oral environment. Achieving this goal helps you to achieve a natural, vibrant, and healthy appearance. By the end of your esthetic treatments, you will notice an improvement in your mouth’s function as well. If you want to find out about the common dental goals of esthetic dentistry, here are the details.

The visual goals

Esthetic dentistry aims to improve the dental structures of the mouth. There should be balance in the way the teeth and gums look. This harmony should carry over when the patient smiles, talks, and eats. The dentist will make sure that the patient’s misaligned teeth will not experience excessive preparation. Doing so will not compromise the structure of the teeth.

The facial midline should be in alignment with the dental midline. Patients do not often notice dental midline abnormalities. Esthetic dentistry aims to correct any problems in these areas. Orthodontic treatment can correct mild misalignments. Orthognathic surgery can correct severe midline issues.

Dentists in esthetic dentistry also look at the relationship of lips to teeth. The proportion of the patient’s teeth should be in harmony with the patient’s lips. This balance should be stable whether the patient is moving the mouth or not. The dentist will reposition the upper front teeth to the esthetic zones.

Making sure that the teeth have the right length is also part of esthetic dentistry’s visual goals. The tooth’s position and size play a crucial role in achieving these goals. The lip’s mobility and length are valuable for showing the front upper teeth. The lips frame the gums and teeth. The gums frame the teeth. The dentist will make sure that the lip and gum tissue have a harmonious ratio.

The functional goals

Esthetic dentistry also aims to keep intratooth and intertooth relationships in concert. Esthetic to highly esthetic smiles have a width-to-length ratio ranging from 75-85%. The dentist must keep the lateral incisors shorter than the central ones. The patient’s maxillary central incisors must be symmetrical. They must dominate but not overpower the smile.

The harmonious intratooth and intertooth relationships do not only give the patient a beautiful smile. These also improve the patient’s speech. The dentist can determine if the patient has a correct edge position for the maxillary incisors by listening to the “V” and “F” sounds. Listening to the “S” sound can determine if the patient has enough freeway space.

Part of esthetic dentistry is to visualize the 3D soft tissue results. New technology in esthetic dentistry allows dentists to produce 3D images. The interpretation of these images leads to the creation of the right treatment plan. The dentist will then construct the skeletal and dental hard tissues from these images.