How We Do Things: Our Dental Lab of Aesthetics and Art in South East Asia
Welcome to our dental laboratory service! By listening and understanding you, we seek the best treatment and best solutions for you with our team.
Westcoast International Dental Clinics & Dental Laboratory
Aesthetic dentistry has grown immensely during the last decade, with more and more requests for a smile that enhances one’s overall healthy look. We are treating not only teeth, but the entire face when we approach a smile.
But what does it mean to have “beautiful teeth” by our patients when we are asked to make a bright, white smile? What do you really desire when you want “white” teeth?
In fact, whiter teeth have become the world’s No. 1 requested cosmetic dental procedure according to the American Academy of Cosmetic dentistry with more than 3 billion USD spent by consumers globally. The fascination with “white” teeth is attributed to whiteness reflects youthfulness and cleanliness. When we were children and choosing from the crayons box, we learned teeth were white and lips were red.
Let’s take a step back and question if dentists professional advice does help patients choosing the “white” color that is best for a smile.
“We are seeing some people very obsessed with obtaining the whitest teeth. We have to stop them from doing too much teeth whitening or veneers when we see little if any improvement can be done. We simply have to say no to these treatments,” says Dr. Nhu An, Cosmetic Dentist at Westcoast International.” It’s like an illness similar to an eating disorder where one can’t stop.”
Dr. Andrew Tsang, Clinical Director at Westcoast International comments: “Some patients visit our clinics asking for teeth color as white as a sheet of paper and requesting to remove every single natural stain or discoloration on the top surfaces of their back teeth. We gently have to advise them not to do so”.
Nowadays, changing Vietnamese Culture and also Media is influencing many Vietnamese to adopt “a brighter and whiter is better” attitude for teeth. There is a growing desire for these whitening services especially by younger individuals who now already know about teeth whitening, non or minimal invasive teeth veneering, and dental crowns. Sadly, many youth don’t need and should not have restorative procedures done – but are getting them anyway.
But what is white? White as a porcelain plate? Or is it more about the “bright” factor? Sadly, we see too many fake smiles being made every day. The fact is that dentists and dental technicians should be the number one experts in preventing these fake outcomes.
We, the dental professionals, need to think about transparency, translucency, opalescence, breaking and transporting light, reflection, absorption and prism effects… All these factors must be included in a single tiny tooth in order to make it bright, natural and shining.
Behold a “color map” used to convey shades and color effects between dentist and technician
The goal is to express to patients the ideas, requests, aims and even fears when choosing the right teeth in the most confidential and professional way.
One common observation based on natural aesthetic science is not to make your teeth whiter than the whites of your eyes. The numbers of factors to look at include: the overall facial esthetics, skin and lip tone color, and of course all the shape and size issues about teeth. All these factors need to be brought into the conversation when deciding on the prefect teeth for you.
Teeth are naturally an off-white color. Most people will find that their teeth become yellow with age and lightly discolor due to common stains such as coffee and red wine. It is recommended to have a professional cleaning by a dental hygienist to prevent stains at least twice a year.
But most importantly, teeth color is a personal preference. Generally, Europeans, Australians and Japanese want more natural teeth with individual texture and staining. In the US, Canada, and Singapore, many people prefer teeth as white as possible.
There is no secret or magic in being able to make your teeth looking white and bright as possible yet maintaining a natural appearance. This is done by skilled dental laboratory technicians that are able to manipulate color by choosing the right materials and technique. The right material but wrong technique will cause problem. The right technique but wrong material will also cause many predicaments. In fake looking smiles this is the reason, and what’s worst, if it’s the wrong technique and wrong material will make even a non dental person can observe “Those are interesting looking crowns you have!”
The key is to go as white as possible as long as they don’t look fake and monochromatic. We need to make the teeth alive with natural translucency and color gradation and effects that run from the gum to the edge.
The right hand side is too dark! The left hand side is too opaque!
Communication is one key and basic principle with each individual patient, expectations, guidance, candor, and support. In terms of yours and our ideas with respect to your facial balance, age and gender. There is no “right” shade of white – it’s just about the reflection of light.
Sharing his personal thoughts, “I don’t reject any wish or personal desires. I rather find solutions, options, and use the best techniques and material choices to provide the most natural outcomes. I’ve made ten veneer choices for a patient once, just so we could try in and let the patient decides what was best for a very difficult esthetic demanding situation. We have to offer the large range of choices sometimes for outstanding functional and aesthetic technical success. But I won’t give a promise, as I am still human, but YES, I like to get challenged.”
“We succeeded in setting up our own chamber of creativity, a “Master Dental Laboratory”, for Westcoast International,” proudly notes Andreas Brabeck (Master Dental Technician/Germany) who has more than 23 years of technical and clinical experience. “We hope to define each and every single tooth with science and art for patients coming and living in Vietnam to lead the way in Asia.”
Andreas doing a shade match on a Vietnamese patient
Making things worse is an industry promise of speedy chair-side “Teeth in an hour”. Yes, it’s a technology attraction and a reality but it’s overly used in front smile work which leads to below average results. “One hour of visiting the dentist for treatments such as with Cerec chair-side crowns is like dental “fast food”, you get it very fast but it’s never highly esthetic. A machine making teeth in such as short time can’t have the artistic additions of texture, anatomy, and specific shade enhancement of a human being,” says Andreas.
When it comes to color, rest assured that our dental lab techniques apply both science and art to make the most natural beautiful results. We hope to build trust by using our expertise, training and highly emphasized communication process between patient, dentist and technician to create amazing results for your smile that will be with you every day.
Welcome to our Westcoast International Dental Clinics and Dental Laboratory!
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