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In some cases the smile esthetics are so bad that additional work is necessary. The specialty of Prosthodontics is the only dental specialty where comprehensive diagnosis and treatment planning is the main focus. With a Prosthodontist the patient should feel confident that all considerations have been made prior to treatment options being presented. Here, this patient had such large spaces that additional diagnostic information had to be examined before a definitive plan was formulated.
Close up view of teeth. Spaces between the front teeth are called, "diastemas".
This is a plastic template that fits over the teeth before treatment to show the patient how large the teeth will be if veneers are placed without any other preoperative work. In this case, without braces the two front teeth would have been too large for ideal esthetics.
Close up view of template in mouth. This is a very simple method of giving the patient a sneak preview of how their teeth will look before any treatment is rendered.
Because we decided that the teeth were going to be too large without some minor tooth movement the decision was made to move the teeth into a more ideal spacing. This movement only took three months. The patient was in and out of braces very quickly. Invisalign would have taken much longer.
The teeth are now ideally spaced for improved esthetics. The same day the braces are removed, the temporary veneers are placed.
Smile view of temporary veneers. Talk about a "transformation"!
Close up view of temporary veneers. This result was based on our diagnostic wax-up done prior to this visit.
Porcelain veneers on laboratory model (upper).
Porcelain veneers on laboratory model (lower).
Smile view of permanent porcelain veneers.
Close up view of permanent veneers (mouth slightly open). Note the beautiful blending of porcelain color, contour and tooth size. The most noteworthy footnote of this treatment is that significant pre-treatment planning was the real key to success.
