Show #305 Airing 7/31/05
When Dr. Marsh joins us, he often shares amazing “before and after” photos that reveal how dental makeovers really do change a person’s look. But can you look into the future to see what a dental makeover would do for your smile, in advance? Today, cosmetic dentists can give you a sneak peek, before any work is done. Here to look into our future is the Jeanne Dixon of dentistry, Dr. Steven Marsh.
Question: Can we really get an idea of what our makeover looks like before any work is done?
Answer: Yes. Nowadays when people come in to have their teeth made over, they already have an idea of what’s possible due to programs like Extreme Makeovers. But they want to know what can be done for them. And there are things we can do to show them.
Question: I see you’ve brought some teeth with you. What are those?
Answer: This is something brand new that we can show patients. It’s a sample or prototype of what your teeth would look like. It comes in different sizes. The patient can hold it up to their mouth to get an idea of what they’d look like with different teeth.
Question: What else can be done in the office?
Answer: First is the imager.
We take photos of the patient’s teeth with a digital camera and then upload it into the imaging computer. I can then draw by hand to give the patient an idea of what their after picture will look like.
In this example, the patient had dark, overlapping teeth:
We were able to show him how his teeth would look whitened:
Then this is the final result:
Here, we also drew in by hand what the straightened teeth would look like, and the after result was actually better than we predicted.
BEFORE
FORECAST
AFTER
Question: Is there something that’s a step up from that?
Answer: Sometimes we want to see something more specific in terms of a mock-up. If that’s the case, the lab that I use has an imaging service. We send them a before picture, and they send back an even more predictable result.
This woman came in needed bridgework. The imaging service sent back that this was a possible result. As you can see, her after shots are very similar to what was projected.
BEFORE
FORECAST
AFTER
With this patient, we also wanted to show her physically what we could do so we created a transitional bridge to show her…and she could also wear it until the lab was finished with the permanent bridgework.
Question: And you have another model with you.
Answer: Yes, this is a wax-up. This patient had ground his teeth, so we took photos, explained to the lab what we were trying to achieve, and they sent back this wax-up to give us an idea of what was possible. This was also important to me, as a dentist, to see how much of the tooth could be rebuilt.
BEFORE
AFTER
I have a way to look into the future too. It’s my Magic 8 Ball. And it says our time’s up. If you have questions, give Dr. Marsh a call.
