- Veronica, how do girls become dentists?
- I, like any girl from a decent family in the 80s, when I graduated from high school, there were only two ways - “honey” or “ped”. At the pedagogical university I was only interested in foreign language, but I did not want to go to school. And since there were all doctors in the family, except for the dentist, the choice was made for me. I just did not resist.
- Veronika, you are a specialist, unique to Siberia, dealing with such a narrow topic as the color of tooth enamel. How did you come to this?
- Changing the color of teeth, from the point of view of aesthetics, interests me for more than 10 years. A few years ago, my associates organized such a club - professionals in whitening. In it we discuss the nuances of color, light, ways to safely achieve the desired patient, we discuss the device of cameras and lenses, shooting techniques for recording the stages of color change. This club is called the Society for the Study of Color in Dentistry. Unfortunately, in Kuzbass I am the only member of the club. I wish there were more professionals on the same wavelength as me.
- Correctly, I understand that you are more interested in not dentistry itself, but aesthetics of teeth, smiles?
- Not. Changing the color of teeth with whitening is just a stroke, one of the steps in creating a beautiful healthy smile. I love all dentistry. I like to do the routine - to clean the channels, put the seals. This everyday work also has a lot of aesthetics and reasons for creating masterpieces. Teeth whitening with special preparations is just one option for discoloration. It can be changed and restoration, and in other ways. It all depends on the initial “material” and the wishes of the patient.
- What are the components of an aesthetic smile? What is the most important thing in it?
- In general, beauty is a subjective concept. I never impose my views on the aesthetics of a smile, I can only offer options. My opinion is this: the aesthetics doctor and the patient must initially coincide. Their internal chemistry, their vision of the result, must coincide. If this is not, it is better to leave.
For me, a beautiful smile is, first of all, a healthy, clean smile that brightens the face, even spiritualizes, I would say. I do not chase after whiteness at all - this is a very thin line of beauty and white color. White teeth are not for everyone.
The last cycles of improvement that I went through were devoted to just naturalness and the ways to achieve it in changing the color of teeth. Even absolutely white teeth can play and look “alive” if you know the nuances of optics, the laws of color perception by the human eye. Although there were attempts to explain harmony by science: calculate the size of the teeth, their position, the location of the contours and verticals of the face (line through the pupils; line of closure of the lips; line through the cutting edges of the teeth; line of attachment of the gums; central line of the face through the nose from above down, etc.), the proportions of the width and height of the teeth - the so-called "golden proportion". All these measurements are really important for an objective assessment of a smile. But sometimes their violation is the highlight that makes us individual. Gioconda's smile is far from mathematics, but it fascinates millions.
- Do you have a professional habit of paying attention to a person’s teeth when you first interact with him? Can you immediately say what a person needs to do with his teeth?
- Yes, I immediately see the features of a smile, a bite, the color of teeth. I just fix them for myself. But most of all, the apparent unhealth of the teeth upsets me; I still, first of all, am a doctor. I notice carious cavities, plaque, missing teeth, with closer contact I notice a bad breath. I can tell this person, but I won’t. I’d better give my business card and invite you to continue communication in my chair.
- How many colors and shades of tooth enamel do exist? Sometimes you watch TV, some stars, and their teeth are unnaturally white, it even looks scary.
- The tooth enamel itself is almost colorless. A variety of shades gives it the color of the dentin located under it, and there can be a great many of them. To determine the shades, there are standard scales, on average consisting of 16 colors. The perfect combination and similarity to natural teeth is achieved by individual selection and mixing of paints. A drop of one, a drop of another - and it will turn out the same. Here, too, there are laws of the location of shades, transparency, "heat" or "cold" colors, the obligatory restoration of all anatomical forms and landmarks. But this is the topic of restoration work, not quite whitening. Incidentally, I like the term “lightening” more. I have associated whitening with household chemicals.
There are patients who want a whitened smile. I think that here you can work with psychologists, because these are some signs of dysmorphophobia — dislike of one’s appearance. The stars of cinema and television have such unnatural smiles, but this, like everything else in life, is only one of the options for diversity. Without them, we would also not know how not to. Moreover, mind you, some go white, and some do not. It is not necessary to look separately at the color, but in combination with the face, color of hair, skin, eyes, sex, age. An esthetician should take all this into account so that it is not funny in the end or even scary. It is necessary to “lead” the patient, to form his addiction first to a healthy smile, and then to white.
“But what if you want a white smile?”
- Women and girls, in pursuit of beauty, resort to different ways to improve their appearance. If a girl decided to lighten her teeth, no one will stop her. She will try different pharmacy or bought on the Internet funds. Sometimes successful, sometimes not at all. Therefore, I rejoice when the girl first, before all the experiments, gets to me. I will change her tooth color. But I also guarantee that I will do it at least safely, using proven methods and means.
- There is a strong opinion that whitening teeth means harming them. And this opinion is common among grandmothers at the entrance, and among dentists.
- In general, my colleagues’s attitude towards lightening my teeth sometimes upsets me. Most often, these doctors argue in the category of "I myself have not read the book, but the author wrote rubbish." Many years ago, I also said that whitening is evil. But then she began to wonder why, in the world, bleaching is spreading so quickly and the need for it is growing. And I began to study. I studied with the Germans, Americans, Russians - all those who directly develop whitening systems, who test and use them. And I realized that whitening is safe. Everything. Point. Whitening is safe!
BUT! It is safe in my office or by the methods and means recommended by me. When the patient decides to do without a doctor, he can disrupt the process technology, and the least that happens is there will be no effect. And in the worst case there will be problems. And then the patient says: whitening is nonsense. At this moment, we lose him and several of his friends whom he said so. Thus, the very topic of whitening is discredited.Therefore, doctors have recently been striving to return to their offices people who want to improve a smile - so that there are fewer victims and more satisfied.
By the way, teeth began to bleach back in the 18th century. And since then the means and methods have improved. The latest tooth whitening systems have even introduced trace elements to strengthen enamel in parallel with the whitening process. You go to the mouthpiece with the drug, bleach and strengthen at the same time.
- Do you know any universal home-based dental care products that really help? Is teeth whitening at home possible?
- I already talked a little about the dangers of home whitening. But it must also be said that the discoloration of the teeth is superficial, obtained as a result of life: plaque, stones, pigmentation from coffee, tea, tobacco. We can remove these pigments mechanically. A light daily soft coating is removed at home with a toothbrush, denser deposits are eliminated in the hygienist’s office with ultrasound or a soda stream. After these procedures, we get the color of the teeth that a person has by nature or obtained under the influence of age and malicious bad habits. Here the question arises of a deeper chemical effect on the tooth in order to change color. This is actually the bleaching of hydrogen peroxide and carbamide in high concentrations.
- But what is the role of toothpaste in the process of clarification of tooth enamel?
- Whitening toothpastes are divided according to the way they affect the surface pigment. They may contain an abrasive that simply mechanically cleans and, if used improperly, can damage enamels, or an enzyme that dissolves the pigment and makes it easier to remove it with a toothbrush. There was one toothpaste, or rather gel, with hydrogen peroxide, which I recommend for home use, but only after consultation! In pharmacies, it is not for sale.
For a noticeable color change, it is better to resort to professional bleaching systems. In general, touching upon the issue of means and methods of brushing my teeth, I always say - teeth should be brushed! Do not buy brushes and pastes, decorating the shelf in the bathroom, but regularly clean for at least three minutes using the correct technique. By the way, note the time you spend on it. Believe me, at the fortieth second you will think: “So, where else to climb to clean? I've already passed everything. ” You are not alone in this. This happens in 80% of the world's population who brush their teeth. Therefore, the work with dentists will always be.
- Are there any trends now in decorating your smile - in lightening, in alignment, in rhinestones on your teeth?
- Fashion is changeable! Once upon a time black teeth were in fashion. They were specially painted with ash. Gold teeth were in fashion, remember? Diamonds and rhinestones were in fashion. Now, in my opinion, all the same, "steers" the naturalness. But still a couple of times I did temporary vampire teeth for Halloween.
As for alignment, this is my favorite topic. Everyone thinks that braces and other devices for changing the bite and position of the teeth are needed only for beauty. This is not true. Beauty is a side effect of normalizing tooth position. The main thing is that with crooked teeth the chewing function suffers, but this is still the main task of the teeth and jaws. After taking several measurements, the doctor with the patient may find that he chews with only two teeth. The rest take a place in the mouth or chew not at full strength. This increases the abrasion, the teeth are chewed not as it should, but as they can. And what they can. Not meat and apples, but boiled sausage. This reduces the quality of life, and I see my task in improving this quality.
- Who now cares more about the health and beauty of their teeth: women or men?
- According to my observations, men are more interested in restoring the function of the dentofacial system, in the absence of obstacles to the implementation of delicious food intake.Women, of course, are also puzzled by this, but for them aesthetics is not in last place. Care for the teeth more thoroughly than women. They have fewer bad habits, they can restrain the urge to eat unwholesome for the teeth.
- How expensive is it to keep your smile in perfect condition? And in general, is the ideal achievable in this regard?
- As one philosopher said, God gives us teeth for free twice, for a third you have to pay. Regular professional examinations, professional cleaning and the elimination of small problems that are not put off the shelf help reduce the length of the check. It is almost impossible to achieve the ideal, we use our teeth every second: we eat, talk, clench our teeth in emotion. And what seemed ideal today no longer meets the needs: it darkens, breaks, and erases. I often compare teeth in frequency and intensity of impact on them with shoes: it is also an infinitely used object. And according to the importance of professional examinations and professional cleanings, I propose to compare it with a vehicle inspection. Men are more aware of this analogy. Although, unfortunately, more often people are better at watching shoes and cars than over their bodies.
Sometimes the pursuit of ideal takes a serious form. Man does not give rest neither to himself nor to people who “make” beauty. I also meet with such patients, I love them dearly, and most often I manage, after talking, to raise their self-esteem and dissuade from some reckless steps in pursuit of extremely variable beauty standards.
“What do you think of your own smile?”
- I consider my smile perfect! Well, I wish everyone that the problem with the teeth is the only problem. Because it can be solved.
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