The esthetic functional integration has always been one of the major objectives and challenges of a dental rehabilitation. The purpose of the DSD Magazine is to share our learning curve for the process of becoming a modern clinician/ technician, smile designer and treatment planner. 

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The process of designing a smile that combines esthetics and function evolved from a single disciplinary process into an interdisciplinary one. It also moved from being an afterthought process to something that is planned from inception. The philosophy of a facially driven treatment plan expresses exactly that. That's why we work first on a facially driven smile design project before treatment planning the integration between biology, function and structure into the esthetic project.

One of the challenges of the smile design process has always been the link between the face and the working model. As a technician I always had the feeling that I was developing wax-ups "lost in space". Even when working with articulators and facebows, the facial esthetic integration was never totally transferred to the technician, generating excessive intraoral adjustments for the dentist to improve facial harmony.

Digital dentistry came to help us in this process, creating a link between the patient's face and the lab design. We will present the evolution of this process and the trends for the future, moving us from analogue to digital and from 2D to 3D.

The integration of the dynamics of motion in the process of design esthetics and function is also vital. From simple smartphone videos to 3D facial scanners with movement, facial and lip dynamic analysis and jaw motion are now part of the process.

Developing natural-looking smiles is also a great challenge for the smile designer. The new concept of copying nature through scanners and using natural algorithms is a reality that will change the restorative world for the better, simplifying complex handmade procedures with a complete digital workflow.

Customizing smiles and integrating them into the functional, biological, facial, and emotional features of the patient is our ultimate goal!