Cosmetic Dentistry: A Science of Perfecting an Artistic Smile

A smile has always fascinated the world of art. If not, Mona Lisa wouldn't have such great effect that brought composers to write her a song. But if you look into it closely, it is not really Mona Lisa that attracted the artists or the songwriters, it is the smile. Just what is in a smile?

What is with a smile?

In the olden days, as told by psychologists today, smile means appeasement. It is a way for ancient people to reconcile or pacify. Nowadays, a smile is not far from what people in the history interpreted it to be. However, it has gone to a more complex interpretation. This is because a smile, as seen by a modern man, can be one of the following:

• a message of sympathy
• a means of apology
• a sign of recognition
• reducing a tension
• hiding a confusion
• making light of an embarrassment
• expressing a doubt (often an expression of light sarcasm)
• expression of joy or delightful feeling

The bottom line is that today’s time, a smile can be due to a lot more complex emotions. It can be a mask as well wherein a person hides his or her true feelings.

The beauty in a smile

While it is true that ‘Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder’, the ‘behold’ is not judged as beautiful according to the beauty of his or her eyes. The thing is that the eyes are not the most important factor of someone's beauty, it’s the set of teeth a person has.

How is this so? This is because when someone is beautiful or handsome or attractive, often holds a very beautiful smile. A beautiful smile is characterized by a good set of teeth. Here comes the expression of ‘pearly white teeth’ that implies beauty, freshness and goodness in a person.

For this reason, in movie, bad guys are often showed with a bad set of teeth. This is because bad or ugly teeth means bad smile and bad smile can be seen as ‘not beautiful’ and "unattractive". On the other hand, good guys always have beautiful teeth for the reason that beauty means good and that beauty depends greatly on the condition of a person’s teeth and in return their smile.

Here comes the world of cosmetic dentistry

Now, to achieve beauty, in both aspects of being seen and perceive as beautiful or handsome, the teeth must be at their topmost condition. So if asked ‘What cosmetic dental services has to do with being beautiful superficially and internally?” the answer is quite simple, a great deal.

The personal worth is greatly intertwined with a person’s appearance and ones facial appearance is greatly affected with the condition of one’s teeth. For this reason, cosmetic dentistry has provided a lot of solutions towards achieving a beautiful and attractive look. Among the things this field of science can do to contribute to beautify one’s smile are the following:

• Porcelain Veneers and Crowns- Procedures done to cover chipping, deformed or ground down teeth through aging, or any other reason.
• Teeth Whitening- This is the process of removing stains that are caused by coffee, plaque and cigarettes as well as darkening of teeth as an aging process.
• Teeth straightening- This procedure can be done on children and adults. This is designed to enhanced one’s appearance and to improve chewing ability.
• Implants and Bridges- These services are done to replace missing teeth, not only for cosmetic reasons, but also for functionality.
• Facial realigning through dental surgical procedures.

Although cosmetic dental treatments often are not covered by healthcare insurance policies, as it is seen as cosmetic and not clinical, it is still a very important part of dentistry. This makes a cosmetic dentist a great clinician, a delicate scientist, a renowned artist and a sympathetic image developer.