Show #344 Airing Sunday, 6/4/06
Today we'll give you the straight talk on what makes a beautifully symmetric smile. Here to give a balanced perspective is our straight-shooting dentist, Dr. Steven Marsh, and one of his patients, Kathleen Totter.
Question: We've spoken about tooth straightness and color being part of a beautiful smile, but I understand that symmetry is also important. Can you explain?
Answer: Just as the eye enjoys whiter, straighter teeth, it also likes when the smile is symmetrical. If the midline is off, the smile will seem off-kilter.
Question: Today, a "well-balanced" patient is joining us. Dr. Marsh, what about Kathleen's 'before' smile was not symetric?
Answer: Kathleen was missing a tooth in the front. It hadn't come in when she was younger. When she had this issue worked on before, crowns were used. If you see on the right of the photo, two crowns were made larger than the others to fill the space of the missing tooth. This made the smile asymmetrical.
On the top and bottom you can see how one side of the mouth is not symmetrical to the other. You can also see that there were some silver fillings and a tooth missing in the back.
Question: Kathleen, what were the concerns you had about your teeth?
Answer: My overlapping teeth always bothered me, and I was always uncomfortable to smile. I tried to fix it, broke tooth. Dentist put new in same place. A friend who also had work done recommended that I see Dr. Marsh.
Question: Dr. March, what did you do to correct her smile?
Answer: First we had to look beneath the old work to see the bone condition underneath and check for any additional decay. We took x-rays and photographs. The bone structure underneath was good. There were two ways to deal with the asymmetrical problem with the crowns: implants (which they didn't have when she had her original work done) or a bridge. We chose the latter.
You can see that the teeth are now properly aligned, the old fillings have been replaced with tooth-colored fillings.
Question: Kathleen, how do you feel now?
Answer: I'm confident to smile again. People have actually come up to me and said that I had a "pretty smile," including some dentists I met at a social function.
Is it time to get some straight talk on your smile? If so, give Dr. Marsh's office a call. The number's next. My thanks to Dr. Marsh and Kathy Totter.
