The need to have the best smile appeared amongst the actors and actresses of the North American Film Industry, when in the 50’s more close-up shots were used and the faces of actors appeared in great detail on the big screen.

We are in the glamorous Hollywood era, and Beverly Hills is where the Consulting Rooms of Dr. Peter K. Thomas became a cult venue for the achievement of the very best smile. The majority of actors passed through his doors for decades until their deaths. His renown was global, not only amongst his patients, but also the entire dentistry profession which followed his doctrines in dental anatomy. 
 

In the mid-80’s, Dr. Ronald E. Jordan (Ontario , Canada) published “Aesthetic Composite Bonding: Techniques and Materials” recognising the use of dental materials for cosmetic purposes, by using composites (material used for white fillings) as “artificial enamel”, covering dark and/or broken teeth and turning them into perfect teeth. This technique led to the so-called “Dental Sculpture” at the start of the 90’s.

Around this time, “Porcelain Laminate Veneers” was also published, the authors of which, Doctors David A. Garver, Ronald E. Goldstein and Ronald A. Feinman, described step by step the cosmetic restorative procedure for teeth with ceramic materials, in other words, with the so-called “Porcelain Veneers or Sheets” currently in use today. Although the cement used for adhesion and the quality of the porcelain (colour, transparency, resistance to erosion, mimicry and naturalness) has evolved over the last 20 years, the protocol for the procedure remains the same. 
 

To finish, I must confess that as a final year student of Dentistry, back in 1988, a book by Dr. Ronald E. Goldstein entitled “Change Your Smile” (which provides the name for this chapter) fell into my hands, and although it consisted of an atlas that gathered together in an ordered fashion a multitude of photographs of clinical cases of defective smiles and how these could be resolved, and was aimed at patients and designed to be placed in waiting rooms of dental consultancies, I saw that as well as all the treatments I was studying to resolve pain, infections, caries, etc, there was also a way to return to patients their confidence and self-esteem, to transform and improve their smiles with the same principles and materials used to cure dental disorders.

It affected me greatly and since then I have found that Cosmetic dentistry would always accompany me throughout the entirety of my professional life.


Dr. Fernando Moraleda Suárez