“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
Cosmetic dentists receive years and years of training to have the ability to fabricate the “perfect” smile. But the ultimate question is: What is perfect? A recent study in the Journal of the American Dental Association looked at this very question from laypeople’s perspective.
The study focused exclusively on tooth-related factors: tooth shape, tooth size, tooth proportion, and incisor position.
In females, we dentists aim for a more feminine smile with rounded teeth, but it turns out that laypeople disagree. They found that laypeople did not discriminate between square, square-round, and round incisors or between canine shapes in females. In males, on the other hand, a more square tooth shape is desired and laypeople agree. They preferred square-round to square incisors and flat canines in males.
Other study findings included the following:
- Most laypeople appear to prefer unworn teeth, small teeth in females, and large teeth in males.
- Most detect variations in tooth width or height among individual teeth.
- A 10° angulation of one or both front teeth is considered less attractive than a 2° angulation.
- The majority of laypeople preferred a 1.4-mm step between the edges of upper front teeth and the teeth beside them, but they tolerated a maximum step of 2.9 mm.
- Most laypeople had a preference for no gaps and tended to notice a gap larger than 1 mm.
If you do not like your smile and are thinking about cosmetic dentistry, read on…
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but certain qualities are more esthetically pleasing according to the majority. With that said, wouldn’t it be nice if you and your cosmetic dentist were on the same page as far as how you want your teeth to look? With the advent of virtual smile imaging, now a computer generated smile makeover can give you a very good idea of your desired outcome. And, you can evaluate that and make changes BEFORE treatment has begun. Visit BirminghamVirtualSmile.com to learn more.
If virtual imaging is not enough, Greystone Smile Design actually takes it one step further. With veneers and smile makeovers, temporary restorations have to be worn for 2-3 weeks while the permanent ones are being made. We use these temporaries as a blue print for the final result. These are made as close as possible to the finished product, so you have a chance to make changes prior to the permanent cementation. If you think about it, this is the only cosmetic procedure where you actually get a “test drive” – much different than plastic surgery.
At Greystone Smile Design, our goal is to give you the smile of YOUR dreams. With virtual imaging and custom temporaries, YOUR beautiful smile is easily within reach!
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Tags: Dr. Tom Dudney, Dr. Trent Buchanan, Greystone Smile Design, Highway 280 Cosmetic Dentist, Hoover Cosmetic Dentist