It is 10 AM Monday morning and already the week is off to a bad start. The phone is ringing off the hook, your co-worker called in sick, you need a file from the cabinet and the drawer is stuck. In frustration you tug that drawer with all your might and wammo the drawer gives way and smacks you square in the face. A quick glance in the mirror and your worst nightmare,.. a broken front tooth.

One might expect to see severely worn teeth in the elderly. Unfortunately I see a great number of patients far from being considered elderly with short, discolored, worn teeth. Some don’t show teeth at all when they smile. The loss of tooth structure ages these patients.

When I was in high school we had an attractive, enthusiastic teacher who at times became quite animated when attempting to make a point. He was well respected by his students for his efforts (and entertainment value), but we were nonetheless complicit in a very embarrassing situation. One afternoon, when he was being particularly dramatic, out popped his removable partial denture. It landed on the girl’s desk in front of me.

The Golden Proportion was first recognized by Phedias, a Greek sculptor, for the commonality in size and shape of spirals and patterns in nature. Dr. Eddy Long discovered that the Golden Proportion applies to facial structures and teeth. The Golden Proportion is 1.618. Here are a few applications of the Golden Proportion which assist in smile design…