Our Philosophy
Every smile is different and should be treated differently. This is the way we see our work. Your smile is like a fingerprint, it's unique. Smile Design means that the dental solutions we envision for our patients are custom made. There are no "templates" in Smile Design. No "one size fits all" and no "unisex".
Smile Design is about unique smiles. It's about preserving the uniqueness of each person, to faithfully reflect and enhance your personality, your way of life, your aspirations. Because your smile tells the story of you in a far more compelling way than a classy business card or a fine car would ever be able to tell. That's why we believe in Smile Design.
The Process
A perfect smile is not taken fresh out of a box. It has a natural glow and the touch of simplicity. A perfect smile looks like it's been there forever. It should boost your confidence and improve your energy.
That's why our work process involves permanent digital communication with the patient. Always projecting where things would go, always giving our patients time to mentally adjust to changes and giving them options along the way.
The smile is a delicate thing and it should be approached with tenderness and care.
Techniques
For an aesthetic and functional rehabilitation of a smile, many techniques exist. Techniques such as orthodontics and/or tooth whitening are still primarily implemented where possible and where your expectations are achieved solely by their use.
After studying the aesthetic and functional project, if tooth whitening and/or dental alignment through invisible aligners or a classic orthodontic device are not enough, below you can see some other techniques we frequently use with success. Sometimes a multidisciplinary approach is needed, meaning that two or more of these techniques are combined in order to achieve ideal aesthetics, function and long-term stability.
Porcelain Laminate Veneers
Also known as very thin Bonded Porcelain Restoration, Etched Ceramic Restoration, "Lumineers" or Porcelain Contact Lens Veneers. They are custom made thin pieces of porcelain that could range around 0.3mm in thickness. They are adhesively bonded to your natural enamel to the front of your teeth with NO or minimal tooth preparation based on proper diagnosis and final patient expectations. Bonding to enamel makes it a very strong bond and makes the restorations act like your own natural teeth in masticatory functions.
The specialty literature has already presented longevity of 25 years and counting where oral hygiene was well maintained and periodic checkup visits to the local dentist were respected (yearly evaluation of gingival levels, calculus and caries control, level of teeth wear).
Treatment indication in cases of misshaped, discolored, spaced teeth or not enough tooth structure showing while smiling.
This technique enhances the energy of your smile with a minimally invasive and long-lasting approach.
Composite resins
Tooth colored moldable materials activated by a curing light (“blue light”) intraorally. They are used with high rate of success after caries removal or amalgam replacement on the posterior teeth.
A very successful indication is closing interdental spaces. These spaces are either genetically present or they could occur after orthodontic treatment.
Composite resin veneers could also be performed in well diagnosed and planned cases. It is also used as a transitional bonded prototype in full mouth rehabilitations and then duplicated gradually in ceramics.
Properly used and planned, composite resins have a high success rate in a large range of applications. The resistance to fracture though is significantly lower than bonded dental ceramics so they might need more reparations and maintenance over time. Their price is on average 50% lower than bonded dental ceramics. Repair procedures are also easier to perform than for dental ceramics.
Every person is unique, so for each case we need to personalize the treatment solution being fully transparent with the long-term advantages and disadvantages.
Injectable composite resins.
Inlays, Onlays, Overlays and All Ceramic Crowns
These restorations are prosthetic pieces in ceramic, composite or gold designed to restore medium to large extent lost substance mainly in the posterior teeth. For reasons of biocompatibility, aesthetics, and its bonding properties to the tooth, the ceramic is the most used material for these restorations nowadays.
Implants
Titanium or zirconia oxide structures shaped as screws that are placed in the jaw of the patient to imitate the roots of natural teeth. They are biologically compatible. Implants are a successful treatment for one or multiple teeth loss.
The procedure is performed by a small incision on the soft tissue followed by preparation of the bone and implant placement. It could take 20 minutes to a couple of hours based on the number of implants to be placed and complexity of oral treatment. After this appointment, the patient has to wait from 4 to 6 months until the implant will be ready to be loaded with a new crown.
There are cases when the implants can be placed immediately after the tooth extraction, leaving with a new tooth on the day of surgery and on the other hand you could you could experience longer waiting time for any bone and soft tissue reconstruction procedures. The treatment can be offered to any healthy individual but oral hygiene, correct diagnosis and sterile operatory environment play a primary role in the long term success.
Success rate today is 98%, but smoking and excessive alcohol consumption may lead to a failure rate of almost 20%.
To read more about dental implants, visit our page discussing their indications, contraindications and potential complications.
Plastic Periodontal Surgery
Micro Surgical Management of the tissues around the teeth improving aesthetics of your gum-teeth-lips complex. This works in case of short teeth, a smile showing too much gum (gingival display) or uneven gum levels that affect the aesthetics of a smile, as well as in cases of loss of soft (gingival) and hard tissue (bone) following teeth extractions.
By Plastic Periodontal Surgery it is possible to reshape and/or reposition the tissues and increase the volume of the deficient areas. Plastic Periodontology is part of an interdisciplinary team work and it is an important part of a dental treatment plan. There are cases where it is possible to achieve the desired smile just by a simple, one appointment plastic surgery.
Interdisciplinary Communication
In any case, we strongly believe that efficient interdisciplinary communication is the key to long term success. And of course to beautiful, charming and healthy smiles.
One very important member of our team is the dental technician or master dental ceramist. Since he or she plays a very important role in our interdisciplinary team and his (her) artistic work is behind the scenes we took the opportunity to show you a glance of the technical side.
Master ceramist building teeth and gingiva in porcelain.
Machine in the process of shaping a ceramic dental crown.
