Although the solution of problems such as toothache, bad breath and tooth loss comes to mind when it comes to oral care, nowadays smile aesthetics due to teeth and gums have a very important place. Aesthetic problems resulting from decayed teeth, gum diseases, crooked teeth, abnormal coloring and tooth loss can adversely affect the social life of people. In addition, it may even cause people to start laughing in public, causing self-esteem deficiencies.

Although the person sometimes has healthy teeth, he may want to improve the disproportion of teeth and gums, shapes or deformities aesthetically. A beautiful smile will give the person psychological strength and at the same time give a better impression to the people in front of him/her.

With the advancement of technology and scientific researches, more beautiful smiles can be provided with many methods and the concept of ‘’aesthetic dentistry’’ is more common in our lives.

One of the first concepts come to mind when talking about aesthetic dentistry is ‘’smile design’’. Smile design; is the process of making the teeth and gums, whose aesthetic appearance is deteriorated due to various reasons, have a natural and beautiful appearance as much as possible, taking into account the facial shapes and needs of the patients. Smile design, which is a multidisciplinary approach, is caried out by applying many processes together.

Since the aesthetic needs of each patient will be different, the procedures to be applied are determined individually. While determining these procedures, the patient’s factors such as facial features, gender, age and expectations needs to be considered. First of all, existing decayed teeth and gum diseases are treated, dental cleaning procedures are applied. Afterwards, procedures are determined according to the needs of the patients. These operations are generally gum aesthetics interventions called gingivectomy, tooth whitening (bleaching) methods, compensating for tooth deficiencies with implant and prosthesis applications, porcelain laminates and veneers, zirconium veneers and orthodontic treatments

In smile design, it is very important to first understand the aesthetic expectations of the patient and determine the needs correctly. Problems are determined and plans area made on the models prepared with the measurements taken from the patient’s mouth. Then, measurements are made using special programs in computer environment with the intraoral and facial photographs of the patients and the conformity to the face shape is calculated. The most approximate images that will occur after the treatment are presented to the patient with programs and temporary restorations prepared in accordance with the original in the patient’s mouth and their ideas are taken.

After the planning is completed, if there is no need for orthodontic treatment, the level disorders in the gums are regulated first. In cases of missing teeth, planned implant procedures and other necessary surgical applications are completed, teeth whitening procedures area applied if needed.

After this stage, the visual and formal defects in the teeth are sometimes removed by aesthetic composite fillings. In cases where this method is not sufficient, porcelain laminate and veneers and zirconium veneers come into play. For porcelain laminated applications, there is usually no or minimal abrasion on the teeth. If porcelain or zirconium applications are deemed appropriate, some changes can be made by taking the patient’s ideas again in the rehearsals made during the stages. During all these gingival and dental applications and rehearsals, lip shape and contour are also taken into consideration and the targeted design is finalized. Sometimes, medical aesthetics applications are also used during smile design. Dermal fillers on lips and face areas, etc. Smile can be brought to the fore with applications.

If the gums and teeth are well cared for, these procedures do not need to be renewed, but if the lip is filled, this filling will disappear over time.