The word art encompasses a plethora of facets among which, the production according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful or appealing. The creation of attractive shapes for instance, seldom happens by accident but rather abides to consensual rules and principles. The perception of art involves all human senses and humans are rarely indifferent to art.
The smile is comprised of three interconnected anatomical structures: the lips, the teeth and the surrounding soft tissues. Pertaining to the teeth -and therefore to the field of prosthodontics-, several components of intricate significance are involved: size and proportion, color and its three-dimensional nature, surface texture, light reflexion and refraction, translucency. In depth knowledge of these components is essential to a careful balance between mimesis and illusion while attempting to replicate nature.
Whereas art and its guiding principles prevail as the steppingstones to the creation of smiles, the emerging interdisciplinary biomaterial science called biomimetics has gained increasing relevance over the last thirty years. We are privileged to have contributed to research in novel dental materials, to benefit from their clinical applications and tribute must be paid to the dental technologists for their expert use of them in the laboratory.
