Smile Design

Smile analysis and smile design are key elements of diagnosis and treatment planning. At DC Smiles, advanced technology and an artistic flair, allows Dr. Singer to measure dynamic lip-tooth relationships. Digital photos and videography is particularly useful in both smile analysis and in effective doctor/patient communication. Smile design is a multifaceted process, with clinical success determined by a mutual understanding of the patient's soft-tissue treatment limitations and the extent to which orthodontic or cosmetic treatment can satisfy the patient's esthetic goals. Dr. Singer carefully communicates these limitations and addresses patient's expectations so that the results are most desirable.

To better understand how DC Smiles can help you achieve results you'll love, here's a way to analyze your smile at home. Stand in front of a mirror and smile at yourself using your "normal" smile. Next, look at the mirror and think of a humerous moment in your life and give a big, laughing smile. This big smile is probably a much larger smile than you feel comfortable using much of the time if you are not happy with your teeth. When your smile is improved, however, your big smile will appear much more spontaneously because you look (and feel) great! So let's figure out what's holding your big smile back -- what it is that bothers you about your teeth?

1. Are all of your teeth brilliant white or are they somewhat yellow, dark, or stained?
2. Are there spaces between any of your teeth?
3. Are you missing any of your teeth?
4. Do you have teeth that are crooked, uneven, or out of line?
5. Do the biting edges of your upper teeth follow the curvature of your upper lip?
6. Do any of your teeth appear short and fat or too small or too large?
7. Are the edges of any of your teeth even with the rest of your teeth or are they too long or too short?
8. Do your teeth (as a group) slant one way or another?
9. Is the midline of your two front teeth lefted with your face and nose?
10. Are the edges of your canine teeth too long, sharp, or look out of line?
11. Do you grind your teeth or are any of the biting edges on your teeth chipped or worn down?
12. Do you have a "gummy" smile -- showing too much gum tissue or having gums that are too thick?
13. Are your gums even and in line and symmetrical or irregularly shaped -- higher on some teeth and lower on others?
14. Have your gums receded or do they appear red or puffy?
15. Do you have any gray, black or silver (mercury) dental fillings in your teeth?
16. Do you have any old crowns that have dark edges at the top or that don't really look natural?

If you answered yes to ANY of the above questions, Dr. Singer's staff can help you put together a treatment plan that will put you on the road to having a great, big, beautiful smile again in no time!

Smile Classification and Analysis

There are two basic types of smiles: the social smile and the enjoyment smile. Each type involves a different anatomic presentation of the elements of your smile. The social smile is a voluntary, unstrained, facial expression, like posing for a picture, or greeting a friend. The lips part due to moderate muscular contraction of the lip muscles, and the teeth and sometimes the gums are displayed. The enjoyment smile, or laughter, is involuntary. It results from maximum contraction of the upper and lower lip muscles. This causes the lips to open their widest and exposes a maximum amount of tooth and gum tissue. Dr. Singer will work to understand the different ways you smile so that he can recommend the best treatment plan for your individual cosmetic needs. Dr. Singer also assesses tongue posture and lip function, particularly during speech. Improper function or unfavorable tongue posture can easily be detected when you know the appropriate proportions and characteristics you're looking for.

Smile Analysis - The Ideal Smile

Most people will judge a smile by teeth alone, but there is a great deal more to the ideal smile. Teeth, lips, and the soft tissue (gums) surrounding the teeth together make up a smile. If any of these three components deviate from the accepted norm, the smile may appear to be unsightly, even if the teeth are straight and white.

Lips

Lips play a dominant role in an ideal smile. Lip lines are classified as low, medium, or high, with medium being the most desirable. A low lip line is one that shows little or no tooth structure when talking or smiling. With a medium lip line the whole tooth shows when talking or smiling. A high lip line, considered a less pleasing appearance, is one where all of the front teeth and gum tissue above the top front teeth are visible.

Gums

The gum tissue surrounding the teeth should fill spaces between teeth that touch so no spaces occur. Where the tooth appears to come out of the gum, the gum should have a scalloped (wave-like) look that follows the upper lip line. It should be situated higher on the central incisors (front two teeth), lower on the lateral incisors (smaller two side teeth), and higher again on the upper canines, or eye-teeth. The left and right sides should be a mirror image of each other. Gum height around teeth can cause even straight teeth to look “wrong.”

Teeth

The teeth themselves should generally follow the lip line from left to right. They should be proportional to each other and themselves. Most often, a length to width ratio of 1.6:1 is desirable. Adjacent teeth also follow a similar proportional ratio when viewed straight on. If individual teeth are too long, wide, not in proportion to each other, or not mirror images left to right, esthetic problems result.

Lasting Results and Functionality

Cosmetic treatments performed by Dr. Singer will not only have a tremendous effect on self-esteem, they can also improve how the jaw functions. As teeth wear down or edges of them chip, the bite will eventually collapse and this will place the burden of chewing on the jaw joints not on the teeth where it was designed to take most of the pressure from chewing. This we feel is a contributing factor to TMJ problems. The other problem when teeth wear down is that it will eventually expose the underlying tooth structures and once that happens teeth will stain rapidly. Bleaching (Link to our whitening service) will only temporarily solve this problem and it will quickly revert back because stains have a much easier way to get inside.

Cosmetic Smile Makeovers

If there is something about your smile that bothers you, holding back your smile can eventually take its toll on your facial features. Years of holding back your smile or covering your teeth with your lips to hide them will eventually cause the muscles around the smile to lose its tonicity and the lower portion of the face will begin to droop accomplishing what you’ve been trying to do all along which is cover your smile. However this shouldn’t be. Imagine your confidence if you had the smile you always dreamed about with diminished wrinkle appearance and improved muscle tonicity. Would you still hold back your smile? Or, rather look for any excuse to flash your beautiful appearance? That’s what cosmetic smile makeovers can do.

Dr. Singer has now teamed with Dr. Houtan Chaboki of Potomac Plastic Surgery to provide an even more comprehensive approach to rejuvenating your appearance. If you've considered plastic surgery to reduce the effects of aging, but going under the knife frightens you, perhaps a cosmetic smile makeover is right for you. Non-surgical face lift makeovers can most often be completed in a few shorts weeks or less, and make a dramatic impact in framing your new smile, achieving a youthful appearance and reducing smile lines, lip lines and more.Dr. Chaboki and Dr. Singer also work together at the  GWUH.

Treatment options include:

Cosmetic Treatments:

Individual Expectations

If you are considering an enhancement of your appearance with a smile makeover, it is important to have realistic expectations. Often times a client sets their expectations too low and cannot imagine the wonderful possibilities that exist to improve one's overall appearance.

The most important consideration when thinking about a smile enhancement is the expertise of the cosmetic dental team. Imagine building your dream house. You wouldn't just hire the best architect and not pay attention to the general contractor and the materials they are using to build the house. The same analogy holds true in a smile makeover. It starts with knowledgeable cosmetic dentists with an artistic flair that takes into consideration all the facial features when designing a new smile, all the way to the ceramist (Link to our ceramist description) that can reproduce what the dentist has envisioned.

It must be understood that there is no universal "ideal" smile. The most important esthetic goal at DC Smiles is to achieve a "balanced" smile that you can't wait to show to the world.