Battling stigma

Would you accept an anterior composite restoration with the wrong shade? Or perhaps a direct anterior restoration that stains due to not being finished and polished properly?

Cosmetic dentistry is everywhere and has an impact on everything we do. It is all too easy to become misguided and wrongly assume that cosmetic dentistry is all about ‘smile makeovers’, whitening and over-exuberant treatment using veneers. The truth is, making your clinical work cosmetic simply means it will show balance and harmony with the existing oral architecture. Does this truly warrant a distorted stigma?

The British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry has worked hard to re-educate all types of dental clinician not to consider ‘cosmetic’ a dirty word and instead to consider the cosmetic factor in everything they do. We need to realise that patients will not often comment when something looks right, but trust they will always comment when something looks wrong. The concept of aligning and use of composite resin is one that has changed the viewpoint of many. We are now doing things with these minimal techniques we never thought could work. The result has been that we see stoical attitudes starting to take note and realise the world is not flat.