The Dawson Academy Blog

Digital photography is one of the most important tools you could have in your toolbelt for aesthetic dentistry. If you think about it, an esthetic case starts with a photo and it ends with a photo. But are you taking the proper photos to showcase your work in the best light? There are two common errors that I see with dental photography. First, the picture might be blurry and second, it might be overexposed or washed out.

When we think about smile design, we often think of the teeth or white esthetics. But what we can't miss is the gingiva or the pink esthetics. The gingiva are what's draping over our teeth or creating the scallop to showcase our beautiful porcelain work. So let's try to simplify this into three components.

Papillas can make us or break us in esthetic dentistry. We all have those cases out there where that papilla didn't fill in all the way, and now we're staring at a black triangle.

Form follows function.

We've all heard the old adage everywhere, in all facets of life. And when it comes to anterior teeth we have to think of it as if we can get the function dialed in and honed in really well, the esthetics effortlessly fall into place.

What is fremitus?

Fremitus is the vibration or movement of a tooth when teeth come into contact together. If you were to take your fingernail and put it on the front surface of a tooth and have the patient close together, and the tooth moved, that's fremitus.