Advanced techniques deliver designer smiles
By Dr. Linda Niessen -- Baylor College of Dentistry STORY: DESIGNER SMILE SCRIPT #501 SHOOT: 2/13/03 AIRDATE: Monday, March 17, 2003
Monday, March 17, 2003
Joni Pittman works as a flight attendant for a major airline. Her smile is important, and she wasn't happy with the way it looks.
“It’s important to your self esteem to have a great smile, and I’m a flight attendant for American Airlines. My job requires me to smile quite a bit. There are so many options now that I can do,” Pittman said. Pittman went through a major dental makeover. Her dentist, Dr. Dale Greer helped her design her new smile.
“First thing we ask her is if she could wave a magic wand, what would she want her smile to look like. And I want to get in her words exactly what she is expecting, because if I can’t give her that, we don’t want to enter into that situation,” Greer said. Greer took measurements of Pittman’s face. The size of her top front teeth were critical.
“Central incisor is 1/16th the size of the face. We want it to be 1/16th of the length and 1/16th of the width of your face. The two central incisors are kind of like the centerpiece of the smile,” Greer said.
So, after all the measurements were taken, Pittman underwent a dental makeover using crowns, veneers and bridges. “I’m really pleased with them. To look at the before pictures and the after, there’s a really big difference,” she said.
Designer smiles are expensive, just like designer clothes. But a smile is an investment in yourself that never goes out of style.
Dr. Linda Niessen, clinical professor in the Department of Restorative Sciences and the Office of Communications and Development at Baylor College of Dentistry, hosts Dental Health Check, the only weekly dental feature shot on location in the nation.
