Golden Opportunities

Imagine a perfect smile. Now picture it in your mouth. By using wax models and prototypes, today’s dentistry can help you see just what you could look like, before the work is done. Here to wax eloquent about the usefulness of models and prototypes is our model dentist, Dr. Steven Marsh.

Question: Last time you were here, we talked about computer imaging, and how that can help a patient understand the possibilities that cosmetic dentistry can achieve on their mouth. But there are other tools that can be used to get an idea. What is that row of teeth you have?

Answer: This is a prototype. It comes in different shapes and sizes so that the patient can hold them up to their mouth and see what looks good on them.
The size and shape of teeth that would look nice on a patient depends upon positioning, the size of the patient’s mouth, etc. This gives people the chance to visualize what it may look like.

Question: What if you want to know specifically what can be done in YOUR mouth?

Answer: Well, there are the imaging photos we’ve looked at before, but a more tangible tool we use is the wax-up.
First we take an impression and make a mold of the teeth. I then go in and prepare the teeth on the mold like I would the teeth in the mouth. I send the mold to the lab and they, based on the preparation, create a wax-up of the mouth.
Wax-ups allow the patient to see what’s possible but also allow the lab, who will create the veneers and crowns, to determine what they will be able to do.

Question: The lab’s not in your office?

Answer: Some dentists have labs in their office, however most are outside. The lab I use, Da Vinci, is in California. Because they’re not in the same city, wax-ups allow me to better communicate with the lab and get more predictable results.

Question: Can you give us an example of how a wax-up was used?

Answer: Sure. The wax-up I have here was created so that the patient could bring it home to his wife and show her the predicted end results. 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.

Question: I understand another procedure people ask a lot of questions about is color.

Answer: Yes, more and more people want to know how much whiter we can get their teeth. We have shade guides that can approximate potential whitening, whether by using bleaching or crowns and veneers.

Question: Can you give us some examples?

Answer: This patient came in to have her teeth whitened. After whitening, because they were still misshapen, we still used veneers. But the veneers are translucent, and because the teeth were whitened beforehand, you can see them shining through. It’s like when you paint a light color over a dark color—if you first use a primer, you get better results.

In this patient we lightened and then used veneers.

Wax models, prototypes and other tools can help both you and the dentist achieve the smile you want. For more information, give Dr. Marsh’s office a call.