Digital Smile Design: On Social Media Looks Are Enamel-Deep

Have we at last reached the terminus of fluorescently frosty-white fangdom? Can there be no more spray tan swatch caramel, ‘neath blonde, blonde locks and lips modelled on what’s left of a kayak hit from both ends?

I hope we have. We’ve been past the point of no-turning back, and thankfully we seem to have reached the part where you have to turn back because I’m starting to have real trouble telling people apart.

I say ‘people’ and mean celebrities and those in any category of famous however it is that they got there. Fell, rose, thrown… so many ways, so little reason.

Actually being able to stay in that Warhol prediction is an entirely other thing. Being able to just ‘being’ there, is next level. Then comes exclusivity and omnipotence in absence (hello Barbra) and in absentia, for some (g’day to ‘the Gucci Billionaire’).

In the government climate change inaction satire Don’t Look Up, in its biting allegory news anchor Brie Evantee is an almost unrecognisable Cate Blanchett because of her blindingly white, oversized teeth.

So disproportionate are they, that they change the structure of her face. So mesmerising are they it takes a while to realise you know that face; you have to look past all of it before you’re be able to uncover Blanchett. From the dental prosthetics to the deepened eyes and back to the rictus lips and hint of restylane rigor mortis. These exquisitely pasquinade prosthetic teeth convey what cosmetic procedure used to: subtlety. The sense that something is different and not being able to put our finger on it.

Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance) has equally bigger-is-better-Texan-style gnashers as the founder of BASH that trigger the same dissonance as Elon Musk hosting Saturday Night Live.

Don’t Look Up teeth say everything there is to say about the ambitiously soulless celebrity fugue of the propped up and glossed up in plastic and pizzazz.

Or pesto and pizza. There are many, many monotonous roads to a ferocity of famosity (a soon-to-be-available certification).

In contrast, there are always valuable courses available to clinicians in order to provide the best of care and the best of techniques for their patients. Digital Smile Design is one such skill; involving hi-tech photography, planning, preparation, and temporisation before the precision attachment of porcelain veneers. Digital Smile Design (DSD) principles create and integrate complete patient records with intra-oral and facial scans. Simple Smile Simulation and 3D Smile Design is a process that allows a digital wax-up, 3D model print and a multi-perspective smile test-drive by the patient.

That feels good already, being able to try before you buy your new beamer smile.

More than the practicality of good dentistry DSD is an emotive approach to an emotional issue. Not feeling confident in the way our teeth represent so much of us when we smile has a hugely negative impact on life. Everything becomes somehow out of balance and we can’t quite put our finger on it.

Digital Smile Design is like an ‘oodle’ of the canine world. Used to be that dental prosthetics were pretty much one-size-fits all.

Certainly they were uncomfortable. In terms of the personalisation possible now with the ability to cosmetically correct any tooth shape, width, and length using the most naturally gradient shades of white; with translucent edging – the optimum in the artistry and science of creating naturally appealing teeth.

DSD has the only treatment protocol that analyses patient facial and dental structures using state-of-the-art digital technology. DSD is considered the most modern, patient-centred design approach available.

Patients are offered better financial flexibility, with inclusion and corroboration all the way through to the affordable, natural and aesthetically delightful smile that tempted the journey.

Improving smiles has been around since the advent of ‘the talkies’ the late 1920s when squeaky-voiced actors could no longer apply, no matter how good they looked. They had to be attractive, speak well, and sound like something audiences wanted to listen to. New York stage actors were in demand in Hollywood and as was common at the time, many had crooked, decayed, or missing teeth.

Pioneer dentist Charles Pincus saw the opportunity when the big screen had the film industry much more concerned with the appearance of teeth. A 1926 graduate of the University of Southern California Dental School, this young dentist was called in as a special consultant by beautician and entrepreneur Max Factor and his brother John; along with movie makeup artists the Westmore brothers, to find the means of correcting faulty smiles overnight, that were neither detectable or impeded speech, and also photographed well.

Dr Pincus perfected the looks of the late and great actors of Hollywood’s Golden Years: James Dean, Montgomery Clift, Fanny Brice, Mae West, Joan Crawford, Edith Head, Barbara Stanwyck, Bob Hope… to name a few… all possibly dead for longer than you’ve been alive. Dr Charles Pincus is considered one of the best cosmetic dentists the world has ever seen.

Ah history; the tomb from the womb of mystery.

Cinemas were the Netflix of the Great Depression. While the economy crumbled like a tonne of talc down a sinkhole, people found numbing or spine-tingling happiness there. And why not … the means may vary, but the human need for escapism is a DNA determination.

Dr Pincus’ dental skills, along with the cosmetic and photographic expertise of the Factor and Westmore brothers came up with porcelain shells attached with a cement adhesive and lasted no more than two weeks. They had to be removed prior to eating, and reattached after. So meals were rarely going to be 3-a-day with snacks during a shoot. They were relatively uncomfortable to remove and re-adhere, so they were never perceived as a permanent solution.

Of course the developments in cosmetic dentistry over the last one hundred years is exponential. It’s where we are now; a brilliant smile within almost everyone’s grasp.

Sometimes ‘perfect’ is too perfect and considering no human is, it’s maybe a little odd to our primal brain that niggled during Don’t Look Up. Granted, there are lots of excellent people on the planet and that’s very different to being ‘perfect’. We are fallible and flawed as a species and you don’t have to think deeply or look too far to know that.

We need to do better. We need to be obsessed by doing what’s necessary for a peaceful planet to heal from the fragile state we’ve pushed it to.

And we need to remember how erroneous comparisons to others are and strive to be the best version of ourselves.

Sometimes that includes our own room-lighting smile. DSD is the means to that destination with star treatment all the way.

Interestingly, as ‘the talkies’ changed the dental world, so has COVID. There has been a notable rise in smile makeovers and veneers since its consequence of Zoom meetings and intensive use of social media.

Usually the only time we see ourselves talking is in the reflection of bogan-cheap reflective sunglasses more suited to Escher-like selfies than tethered to a face roaming the streets. It’s annoying and confronting to see yourself talking and smiling and pretending you can’t. Ultimately the conversation is cut short to book a facial, haircut and therapy session. Working from home meant doing exactly that (sans facial, hairdresser and anyone wielding wax) regularly. For a number of hours. Over months and months.

It isn’t normal.

Digital Smile Design On Social Media: Looks Are Enamel-Deep: Conclusion

It’s psychologically impacting. COVID isolation meant that FaceTime was the only time many actually saw another face. It’s no wonder wanting lovely teeth to feel healthy and wealthy became a pandemic focus.

Digital Smile Design means you’ll never end up looking like Brie Eventee(th – surely that was intentional). You’ll be you, you’ll see you before you’re your new you, and you’ll be smiling all the way because you’re doing it for your better self with DSD perfecting your perfect imperfections.

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Note: All content and media on the  Sunbury Dental House website and social media channels are created and published online for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.

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