Dentistry and art...

A few weeks ago when the team and I were having lunch together, I started telling them how happy I was with a restoration that I did on a patient who had broken his front teeth and I was building them back up again. The patient had white spots on his teeth (called mottling) and so it was my job to make the teeth look as natural as possible. To do this, I hand painted and stained the teeth so they matched his other teeth perfectly and looked like his teeth before they were broken.

Some of the comments from the team made me realised that not a lot of people were aware that dentistry involved so much more than a drill. Dentistry is really like a work of art. You might be reading this and thinking how strange it is to see dentistry and art in the same sentence. The fact is though, dentistry really is like fine art.

 As a dentist, I am a technical person and have trained for many years to use my hands every day—an artist is also technical and uses their hands! The difference between an artist and a dentist is that I create art for your mouth and not a gallery. A dentist designs, sculpts, paints and creates beautiful smiles.

In order to create beautiful, natural smiles, I consider your symmetry, your face shape, the colour and the shape of your teeth.  Designing a beautiful smile is like a sculpture. Say for example you want something for your coffee table, well it can’t be too big otherwise it would look out of place. This is the same for your teeth, my job is to make teeth look completely natural and to accentuate your features. Based on your wants, I also choose colours or shades that are going to look best with your skin tone.

The great thing about art and dentistry is that it not only looks good, but it serves a purpose or function. Redesigning a smile can improve your bite, improve your oral hygiene by making it easier to clean your teeth when they are better aligned and also improve the chances of keeping your teeth or lasting longer in life.

Dentistry is extremely rewarding, particularly when I get to look at every mouth as a work of art.

Until next time..... Dr L