It's one big dilemma in dentistry: should you be maintaining your patient’s teeth? Or, in a lot of cases, actually giving them the smile they want? We all know this isn’t always the same thing. 

The European dental space as a rule has always been about function over aesthetics, however with modern materials and technology there has never been a better time to achieve both and still manage the patient’s expectations. 

Patients are more aware than they have ever been before and through surfing the Internet and reading celebrity magazines they actually, on some occasions, are more up to date than the dentist with new materials and techniques because someone on "The only way is Essex" had it done. It can be difficult to live up to these patient’s, sometimes unrealistic, expectations. 

However with the support of good treatment planning processes, like Digital Smile Design (DSD) and the SKYN Concept, we have better technology than ever to bring us closer to making dreams come true. These processes do not do anything revolutionary in themselves, but they enable us todemonstratethe ‘dream smile’ in a way that completely convinces the patient and captures their imagination; then support the realization of this dream with high quality treatment planning and clinical dentistry to deliver.

Christian Coachman and Livio Yoshinaga, the people behind DSD, are filling lecture rooms around the world guiding us through a very patient centric experience. They use modern digital equipment, which we all mostly have in our mobile phone, to transform the approach of the patient experience. Everything that's done in these practical courses makes perfect sense, however we don't usually take this sort of time with our patients to show them what's possible. If you do it will make the difference between a patient leaving happy with their restoration, and an ambassador for your practice to anyone who will listen: we all know word of mouth is the best marketing you can get.

This is the face of modern private dentistry with an increasingly knowledgeable patient that no longer will take the word of their family dentist. They will search for the clinician that meets the reputation and technology adoption that they think they deserve. They will also presume that if you don't advertise it then you don't do it and they will go to someone who does. More and more I speak with dentists whose patients have had aesthetic work done elsewhere then returned to their family dentist for normal maintained work. On quizzing the patients why, in all occasions the answer is ‘I didn't realise you did this.’

The modern private patient knows what they want but unfortunately the Internet does not give them clinical suitability, so processes like Digital Smile Design give them a realistic result they can see and, more importantly, desire. If you get the chance, get to a DSD lecture and see why the industry is moving this way. DSD UK and SKYN UK run everything from introductory courses to 3 day live patient courses and provide mentoring on the process should you need more. Once you see the reaction of a patient you will be sold on the process: I know I was. 

Convincing and engaging the patient is just the first stage of the process, beyond this doing the treatment planning and achieving is the more difficult part. That's when it is important to work with a dental laboratory that understands and can deliver on your promises. This means great communication, being digitally enabled to work with technology and working with the best of modern dental techniques and materials. 

By combining all these aspects within our new digital dental world, it has never been easier to show your patient the dream then, more importantly, deliver the dream smile.