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Before and After 2015: Smile Makeover – Replacement of 2 Teeth on 1 Abutment with Pink Ceramics

A Caucasian female patient in her 20s was just about to get married and wanted to look the best. She was missing laterals with vampire-like fangs that bothered her. Because of the timeframe, orthodontic treatment was not an option.   Since the teeth are all vital, we need to be conservative in prep generally, but the aggressive prep is necessary where required. Boding strength is another element we must consider. Thus, we decided to go with lithium disilicate (e.max) restorations – veneers on the central incisors and first-premolars, with joint crowns to replace the laterals and canines off one abutment for each quadrant.   Fig 1 shows the pre-op condition. When working a case like this, the communication between the clinician and technician is...

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Before and After 2013: Smile Makeover – Implant Zirconia Bridge with Gum Porcelain

An Asian patient in her 40s was depressed about the aesthetics of her smile. She had several attempts to replace the restorations to achieve natural aesthetics, which she found difficult. She was looking for “a durable, functional and, most of all, a beautiful smile” in her words.   The treatment plan is to replace the existing restorations – 12-22 Screw-Retained Implant Bridge, and crowns on the canines - 13 and 23. To maintain the same property and material in the superstructure, we decided to use Zirconia with Ti interface abutment for the implant connections.   Fig 1 shows the pre-op condition. The aesthetical and functional issues we need to address are: correction of the midline cant achieving a sense of symmetry on the central...

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Reproducing Nature Part 4: Smile Design

LVI Visions featured Yugo’s article titled ‘Reproducing Nature: Smile Design in 2008 (published language: English).   Introduction:   Today, creating a natural-looking smile is essential in cosmetic/aesthetic dentistry. As I mentioned in the first part of this article (European Journal of Eesthetic Dentistry Winter 2008), many people think that white “Hollywood Smiles” look fake but is it true? Have you thought about bleached natural dentition? I think it looks healthy and attractive but doesn’t look fake at all. That is the type of benchmark I set for myself when the patient is after a perfect smile – i.e., bright yet natural.   Now, what is the definition of “perfect” anyway? Does it mean that it’s perfectly in proportion, perfectly adapted to the patient’s desire or could...

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Before and After 2012: Smile Makeover – Achieving Significant Change in Proportion with porcelain veneers

A Caucasian male patient in his 30s was deeply concerned about the aesthetics of his smile. There are several issues we had to address: most notably, changing the proportion and tooth size within the aesthetic zone, crown-lengthening/gum-contouring, and a replacement of a missing tooth on 14 (right first-premolar).   We selected a Zirconia bridge on 15-13, and lithium disilicate (e.max) veneers for the rest – 12-26 (missing 25), from the right second-premolar to the left first-molar, a total of 10 units.   I must admit that this case was one of the most challenging smile makeovers I had encountered at that time, but the result spoke for itself. The patient was “over the moon” with the outcome.   The key to achieving such a result was...

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