Patterns

Smile Classifications

The correct analysis for any smile begins with the proper measurement of your lower front teeth relative to your lips in a closed position. As such, with your teeth together and your lips gently closed, the upper incisal edge of your lower front teeth should be 2-3 millimetres below your resting lip line. Unfortunately, most lower teeth, through wear and tear of time, tend to shift and drift and become relatively too prominent. If this is not assessed correctly, any subsequent placement of your upper teeth to improve your smile will be short and convey the impression of appearing aged.

This article is the first of a two part series presenting a new Classification for identifying various Smile Patterns. The Classification scheme allows a descriptive characterization of the relationship of the face, lips and teeth during the dynamic change from a resting smile with lips closed to a full exaggerated smile.

To be human is to smile. The smile is the natural expression of happiness around the world, an expression that is instantly and universally understood. It transcends all cultural differences and has never gone out of fashion. Why then, if the smile is such a universal and timeless human expression, do we as a profession have such a hard time talking about it in a precise and clinical way?

We have classified and measured virtually every other aspect of the world around us down to a science, except the human smile. In fact, we don’t even have a generally accepted definition of what a smile is. What the profession needs, and what this article proposes, is a system for analysing our patients’ smiles. Without such systems, how can we hope to inspire confidence in our patients and build aesthetic dentistry into a widely respected part of the dental profession?

For comparison, look at the field of architecture. The structural principals that an architect uses are applied in exactly the same way across the world. While each building looks different, just as each patient’s smile looks different, the underlying principles that go into erecting buildings are always the same.

They follow a natural set of laws, the laws of physics, that do not change. Having a fundamental set of principles that are commonly accepted allows architects to collaborate on projects and discuss new techniques with colleagues from anywhere in the world. While this has been possible in the field of general dentistry for years, we fall short when it comes to being able to discuss our patients’ smiles.

As patients come to us wanting to improve their smiles we need a systematic way of discussing their smile with them. Too often the conversation between a dentist and their patient quickly breaks down into the purely subjective and unscientific level of “I just don’t like my smile” or, “I want a smile like Robert Redford.” At this point, we’re at a loss as a profession to break down the different elements of a smile and discuss these with our patients and colleagues in an objective, methodical scientific way.