Dear patients and friends, 

I hope you will allow me this lyrical foreword to an incredibly interesting and promising subject – esthetic restorations of teeth. Looking for professional growth I have visited numerous and various courses over the years, but I have never been more inspired than when I finished the esthetic restoration course. I am proud to have been among the first Bulgarian dentists who have taken a look into the art of restoration, and I am to offer this technique to my patients, because it is the future of dentistry.

I am very grateful to Dr. Sergey Radlinski and his team.They are leading worldwide in the art of dentistry and receive in their clinic based in Poltava, Ukraine, some of the most demanding patients from across the globe. Practicing the technique of esthetic restoration, the dentist steps into the sphere of fine art looking for greatest possible similarity with the perfection occurring in nature, while the patient obtains the cream of what dentistry can achieve so far.

That’s why work on esthetic restorations delivers to me great pleasure and professional satisfaction.  

Dr. Hristova

What is esthetic restoration?

The beauty of the face is often up to an attractive smile. Its appeal depends on the condition of your teeth. And what does the beauty of a tooth depend on? 
 
SHAPE, COLOR, TRANSPARANCY and BRILLIANCE – these are the components that dentists rely upon while creating teeth identical with natural teeth. The technique in achieving this ambitious goal is known as esthetic restoration and is perceived as one of the most promising fields in present-day dentistry. Mastering this technique requires a lot of efforts from the dentist. The specialist, who works on esthetic restorations, should combine the skills of a dentist, artist, sculptor and even psychologist. 

The materials used to perform complex restorations, have been known for the last 1-2 decades, however their improvement resulting from the achievements of contemporary science, has allowed dentists working on esthetic restorations to restore every tooth, even one that has been destroyed to an extent requiring its coating with a crown. This has become possible owing to the nanocomposites – the cream of nanotechnologies in dentistry. 

Goodbye to metal-ceramic constructions? The new composites

Present-day restoration dentistry is focused on reducing tooth traumatism in the preparation of the tooth – less filing down and the removal of minimum tooth tissue – only tissue impaired by cavities. Such treatment is unthinkable during filing down for a crown. It is rightfully assumed that crowns and metal-ceramic ones in particular, will get out of use because of the aggressiveness of the treatment that apart from impaired tooth layers, unnecessarily removes perfectly healthy tooth tissue. Metal-ceramic crowns, and even bridges will be fully replaced with tooth restorations. This has become possible thanks to the new composite materials, the composites of the new generation – they achieve chemical bonding with the tooth and form monolithic oneness with it. 

The dentist working on esthetic restorations, should be to a certain extent a sculptor, an artist. He has to recreate and restore all fine points of the lost tooth layers resulting from cavities, fractures or abrasion. Scholars outline several types of teeth. Still, it is also true that every individual has unique teeth. 

„Male” or „female” teeth

In the view of Dr. Lombardi, gender influences tooth shape. Judging from teeth, one can tell whether they belong to a man or woman. It is assumed that in women the rounded angles of the upper incisors add to feminine appeal, and are associated with youthful and sexy appearance. Very often the mere rounding of incisor edges (termed „esthetic contouring of teeth”) adds a new degree of attraction to the smile. Men look more masculine with incisors whose angles are close to 90o. All these fine points should be achieved, as the dentist works on esthetic restoration. 

Colors, tinges, translucency

The color range in restoration is fairly broad – more than 20 types of tinges allowing to imitate successfully the tooth’s natural perfection. Just like an artist mixing and layering colors, the dentist should – layer by layer, and tinge after tinge – build up material on the tooth in small proportions. Material is then light-cured using a special light-emitting-diode lamp. The resulting single construction – the tooth merged restoration material – is very close to natural enamel where hardness is concerned. 

An essential criterion for the tooth’s natural beauty is its ability to let light through, the so called translucency, that grows stronger from the cervix to the body, with the cutting edge almost fully transparent. A tooth coated in a metal-ceramic crown does not display this translucency, because of the metal which unlike tooth tissue does not let light through.

Therefore with metal-ceramic crowns translucency is only displayed along the crown’s edge that is metal-free. Using composites the dentist is able to fully control translucency, so as to make a restoration fully identical with the natural tooth.

Youthful teeth

Experienced dentists are aware that the beauty of teeth is largely due to their transparent edges that wear down with time. If this cutting edge is displayed more prominently, the impression is of youth and beauty. Practically anytime the transparency and the shape of the teeth is restored, the result is rejuvenating of the patient. Restoring transparency is very important for middle-aged and senior patients. After polishing the esthetic restoration attains the brilliance typical of a natural tooth.

The material itself cannot ensure the rejuvenating effect. The process requires experience and talent from the dentist. This is particularly valid for restorations performed in the difficult environment of the mouth, with restricted work field and field of vision compared to the much more favorable conditions in the dental lab where crowns, bridges and veneers are made.

More time, a lot of mastery 

The technique of esthetic restoration allows restoring teeth destroyed by cavities, trauma or abrasion. The dentist is able to correct their shape, bent or color which for a variety of reasons (genes, medicinal or toxic influence, traumas) do not correspond to either the natural parameters, or the esthetic views of the patient.

However, the chief advantage of esthetic dentistry is its ability to keep the tooth vital and to prevent filing down healthy tooth tissue. The average time for performing a restoration is 3 to 4 hours. In some special cases however, this time can be even longer. 

For more details, fix an appointment for a check-up and consultation at Dentissimo Dental Design surgery.