Digital Smile Design (DSD)

Shre Vinayakaa Dental Clinic

The DSD concept was discovered by a Brazilian Dentist/Dental Technician (Ceramist) Mr. Christian Coachman in 2007 and over the years has evolved markedly. Since the discovery it has already made its way in the global market of Esthetic Dentistry and thousands of dentists / dental technicians have been trained to use it by Mr. Coachman in partnership with Mr. Livio Yoshinaga across the seven seas. DSD concept mainly aims to assist a dentist in following three aspects of the process : Improve esthetic planning and smile design - by improving the visualization of the patient's esthetic problems and giving insights about possible solutions. Improve communication between interdisciplinary dental team - by facilitating the process of communication in a simple manner. As the ideal treatment is a result of an interdisciplinary approach which is a challenge in itself due to the difficulty of implementing a protocol for efficient communication among the team. Improve communication with the patient - by visually involving them in the smile design & decision process as per their wishes and desires. The fundamental question is: what the patient wants to express with their smile? Multiple smile designs can be created, each one with a specific character. The key is in discovering what design will harmonize with the dental morpho-psychological (visagism) aspects of the patient. The beauty of the DSD technique is that it does not require special equipment, software or major financial investment and the digital equipment already present in a modern dental practice can be utilized for the whole process of Digital Smile Design. Gradually over a period of time, DSD aldo found its beneficial esthetically driven treatment planning role in various other dental specialties namely Implant dentistry, Periodontics, Orthodontics and Orthognathic surgery. The whole concept is based on analyzing facial and dental proportions using series of digital videos and set of high quality digital photographs to acquire the knowledge of relationship between teeth, gums, lips, smile, facial features in motion and emotion. After acquiring this data, it is transferred into a computer followed by image calibration using a digital ruler. Manipulation of images and redesigning of the smile is carried out utilizing tools of presentation software (Apple Keynote for Mac and MS PowerPoint for PC). Once a final digital smile has been customized using well established smile design principals and fulfilling patient’s desires, the digital images can be shared in form of PDF, keynote or power point files with dental technicians or specialists using the internet and the treatment plan can also be presented elegantly to the patient. After the patient's approval of the digital image it is transferred and tested esthetically in the patient’s mouth by means of a wax-up created by a dental technician using the same calculated analysis and eventually the wax-up is transferred in the patient's mouth through a mockup or provisional restoration to let them experience their new esthetical, functional and emotional smile, hence increasing their confidence in the process and acceptance of the proposed treatment. The DSD concept also seeks to raise the curtain of a new digital dentistry era for the general public which is more esthetically driven, humanistic, emotional and artistic thus further enhancing the prestige of the noble dental profession in the eyes of the society, because there are not many things in life more important than a healthy, natural, confident and an elegant beautiful smile!