Sadia Carone,        
                                    and info for actors, models and others

A young actress expresses her appreciation of Aesthetic Dentistry skills and especially sensitivity to artistry, creativity and fear of dental treatment.

 

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A special note for actors [and  others]

Dentistry  can have a powerful impact on your appearance.  Subtle  changes artistically performed can not only enhance the  good looks of a smile, it can  actually modify it in several ways.  There are  certain smiles that suggest masculinity and strength. Other smile  characteristics suggest femininity and sensuality.   Small changes can suggest more or less primitiveness and wildness.  An   easy characteristic  to picture is slightly longer, more pointed "eye teeth" that can look a little more wild, suggestive of a tigress, or tiger. 

Subtley accomplished they can un-consciously and  attractively help  conjure up notions of animal  sexuality, or untamed natural wildness.  Taken to extremes, of course, it would begin to  look like a bad vampire movie!  Teeth that have developed naturally shaped that way, on the other hand, could be  easily reshaped to reduce these qualities and add to an appearance suggestions of friendliness, ease,civility, safety, tameness, softness...etc.

If your face is a little too long vertically, your teeth can help to reinforce that  appearance, or they can help neutralize it by emphasizing the  width.  Sort of like if you were too tall and thin ( is that possible?) and wanted to de-emphasize it, you wouldn't wear a suit with vertical stripes, right? You might wear a plain outfit, or one with some horizontal theme instead.   A shorter, thicker body type might  benefit from emphasizing the    vertical.  Teeth can be restored many different ways, often dependent on the artistic sensitivity of the dentist!  Length, width, coloring, surface texture, positioning, angulations,  squareness or roundness all can be "tweaked" quite a bit to create different effects and still be within the boundaries of what will work functionally and esthetically.  Gums can be   reshaped - often easily and as a very simple and painless procedure - to modify the look of the smile.

Here's an example of a dramatic change that involved subtle changes  to the teeth and simple gum reshaping:

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Pretty Gums ?

To see more examples of before and after photos of my patients go to the Cosmetic Dentistry Photo Album listed  on the   Topics page.

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Teeth, of course, are normally not an outfit [more about that in a minute].  Modifications - if they are to be   attractive and credible - must be artisically created with  an understanding of not only the dental health implications, but also the  esthetic implications.

Sometimes... teeth can be like an outfit of clothes.  In Hollywood, many of the  old-time   well-known  greats wore  full dentures.  Clark Gable was reported to have had many different  dentures, each  with a different "look" for different dramatic roles.

Aside from a full set of dentures, however, it is possible to temporarily modify teeth to  create or enhance a   certain "look" for a theatrical role.  "Hollywood veneers" have been made for movie studios often over the years.  They are false "fronts" that snap on or are pasted onto natural teeth.  They can have all sorts of subtle to extreme appearances.  More extreme  appearance changes include those made for  Dustin Hoffman in  Midnight Cowboy, giving him a suitably "grungy" look  for a  down and out street person with   badly neglected teeth.  You may not have consciously noticed it, but it   gave his appearance a lot more credibility. A toothpaste-ad smile just wouldn't have worked the same way...

Another extreme example that you definitely did notice was for the  James Bond character affectionately  called Jaws, with his mouth full of menacing metal teeth.  Of course we all know the black wax trick often used by Lucille Ball to look like  a tooth was missing.

Usually, however, studio dentists have done more subtle things.  I should also mention that it is important that appropriate materials and shaping be used for restoring teeth for stage, print, and screen personalities.   The bright lights used in photographic, video, film, or stage lighting is  different from ordinary lighting as you are  probably well aware. They are  not only a lot brighter, but they selectively highlight a different color spectrum than normal indoor lighting or  sunlight.  You are no doubt aware of how skin tones...and imperfections... can be accentuated in good and  not so good ways by the lighting.

Teeth that are capped or veneered or just filled can fluoresce differently with  such lighting.  As a result restored teeth can appear darker than surrounding teeth, or the normal gaps between teeth can be   accentuated  so it looks like there are ugly spaces, or cavities there, whereas in normal light, they might look fine!

By using appropriate  materials [dentists have many  choices in materials to choose from] and appropriate shaping, the   artificial restorations can look and act more normal under all lighting conditions.   Some of the most  commonly used materials do not act that way.

 

Michael C. Goldman, DDS
General and Cosmetic Dentistry
3815 East-West Highway
Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815 Phone (301) 656-6171

       

Cosmetic (Aesthetic) dentistry is about doing   quality , esthetic dentistry in a way that looks natural to begin with, and furthermore,   can even  improve  one's  attractiveness through techniques such as bonding, bleaching, veneers, caps, implants and more.  It can   be like "instant orthodontics" in correcting  crooked, twisted or misplaced teeth in many instances.  Dark or mis-shapen teeth can be restored.   Smiles that lack youthful vigor or beauty can be revitalized! See Topics / Info..

Holistic dentistry is an approach to dental treatment, primarily  caring for  patients' health and safety from both a conventional as well as  "alternative healthcare" point of view.   It is sometimes called "biological" dentistry or "biocompatible" dentistry.  In it's fullest sense, I believe it   acknowledges and deals with  the mind, body and spirit of the patient, not just his or her "teeth".  See Topics / Info.....

In holistic dentistry there is an effort  to find  biocompatible materials to use to reduce toxicity for  everyone, especially the chemically sensitive.  Amalgam use is avoided   in holistic dentistry (" amalgam free" or "mercury free") due to concern about possible toxicity problems.  Amalgam removal  and replacement with natural-looking bonded materials is a common holistic dentistry treatment as well as a common cosmetic dentistry  treatment.   Detoxification, especially of residual mercury deposits in body tissues from amalgams is often done.  Root canals are controversial  in holistic dentsitry and are discussed under topics.  And much more....

Bleaching, veneers, bonding, caps, bridges, and implants  are cosmetic dentistry treatments that are also  discussed in  Cosmetic Dentistry, and more... 'Hope this  has been helpful !  Let me know.

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