How to find the best cosmetic dentist for you in San Francisco
The best cosmetic dentist of your choice is determined by a combination of factors. We already looked at what a patient needs to do to find the best cosmetic dentist. This infographic focusses on the essential sequence that a cosmetic dentist should follow to give you the smile that you are looking for.
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"I Want A Smile Makeover!"
This request appears simple. You look in the mirror and decide that it is time to get your smile rejuvenated. You see the obvious: your teeth have become worn out, dark, and lookdingy. You found a top cosmetic dentist with great credentials, such as one who is accredited with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. During your comprehensive consultations with the cosmetic dentist of your choice, you might have realized that a smile design is not just the placement of a set of porcelain veneers on top of your teeth.
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Diagnosis
Your dentist may explain to you that a thorough analysis will have to be performed prior to any treatment planning of your teeth. This is the time when communication between the cosmetic dentist and the dental patient is very important. A top cosmetic dentist listens, compiles, and organizes his patient's goals with all objective (examination reports, x-rays, clinical photographs) and subjective (patient's goals, likes, dislikes, opinions, motivations) information that can be obtained.
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Science & Function of Smile Makeovers
The scientific literature is abundant with information about the human body and its functional systems. The best cosmetic dentist is well educated about all aspects of human physiology, the intricate mechanics of the masticatory system, how all this relates to the individual functions of your own mouth, and communication.
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Expertise, Skill, and Artistry
The best cosmetic dentist for your needs has a high level of expertise. Continuous study, training, and meticulous application of knowledge and experience help attain this level. Skill comes with repetition and the application of the acquired expertise to the various conditions of the human mouth. True mastery is accomplished when all interactions of all fields of knowledge of a profession are understood. A top cosmetic dentist is able to see the big picture. Science and Art start to fuse.
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Comfort of Your New Teeth
As soon as healthy physiological oral conditions are rehabilitated, the oral cavity feels comfortable. The cause of premature dental aging may be associated with a deviation of natural functional patterns due to previous dental procedures, such as orthodontics, oral surgery, or restorative dentistry. Compensatory mechanisms might lead to dysfunction of the masticatory system which may be associated with the premature wear or loss of tooth structure. It may also lead to orthopedic problems of the temporomandibular joints as well as the entire sensory-motor feedback system of the chewing apparatus. Rehabilitation of such functional and structural deviations often coincides with a much greater comfort of the oral cavity. Hence, comprehensive smile makeover feel also like "Cinderella's show" for some patients.
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Aesthetics of Your New Smile
Exellent aesthetics go hand in hand with a total integration into the natural physiological masticatory system and in perfect harmony with the surrounding structures, such as lips and tongue. The best position of the new teeth is located in the so-called "Neutral Zone." It is the zone where the forces of the soft tissues against the teeth neutralize each other. The best length of the upper incisors in any given face is determined by analyzing the reposed and raised (smile) lip position with provisional restorations. The patient wears the trial smile for a few days to determine how the new dental dimensions feel and look like within the framework of the mouth, lips, and the various oral functions.
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Durability of Dental Restorations
The best cosmetic dentists are meticulous when it comes to the delivery of porcelain veneers. A stringent use of rubberdam isolation is absolutely necessary to avoid any contamination of the prepared tooth surfaces while and after the dental conditioning with dentin bonding agents. The chemistry and application of these agents should be thoroughly understood. This includes timing, mixing of proper proportions of the ingrediences, their specific manipulations, and their proper sequence of application. Dental laminates have to fit perfectly without any visible gap between their intaglio surfaces, their margins, and the prepared tooth surfaces, even without the dental luting cement.
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Oral Health
After perfect execution of every individual step of a smile makeover, the outcome will not just be durable, but also healthy in the broadest sense. A cosmetic dentist meticulously operates at the highest level without losing the big picture of the organic system that he or she was working with. He understands all aspects of oral biology, embryology, physiology, and maxillofacial development, to mention only a few branches of his expertise.
The outcomes are those natural-looking rejuvenated and healthy smiles that you can see in our galleries of smile makeovers.