Achieving esthetics in dentistry is one of the most challenging issues in dentistry and has become a persistent topic in all specialties of dentistry. The patient seeks not only a functional restoration or an implant that is osseointegrated, but also an optimal esthetic result, therefore, we are facing everyday higher and higher patients’ demands.
Caries, tooth discoloration, defective restorations, wrong restorative materials, advanced periodontal disease, consequences of periodontal therapy, iatrogenic lesions, wrong soft tissue management, wrong timing of procedures may lead to different esthetic problems such as elongated teeth, altered gingival margins, lack of three-dimensional hard and soft tissue volume, in other words an inadequate relationship between soft tissue and teeth and/or restorations. This, as a consequence, may determine an unnatural, non pleasing, smile. Modern techniques and materials can be useless if the final outcome doesn’t achieve the patient esthetic expectations.
This presentation will focus on the solutions of these problems, on an adequate diagnosis of the different sites, on the forecast of the clinical outcome and on the technical solutions, which, in most cases, requires a multidisciplinary approach and a thorough knowledge of the restorative materials and protocols which involve the effort of the entire dental team.