Dental News - Right ‘touch’ helps patients envision new smile

Dental Tribune USA

Tue. 30 April 2013

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The Smile Guide Touch iPad application that helps dentists identify a patient’s cosmetic preferences is being re-branded as the Smile Guide Touch Pro. The change announced earlier this year was needed to differentiate the professional version of the app from a new basic version of the app released in February — Smile Guide Touch Basic.

The “Pro” version retains all of its previous functionality and will remain the app of choice for cosmetic dentists. The “Basic” version is designed to serve the general public.

The apps were created by American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry member Dr. David L. Traub, under the trade name Digident. A general dentist who focuses on cosmetics and restoratives in his Florida practice, Traub created the app to help dentists get beyond printed smile-design books and design and preview smiles for their patients by using a tablet computer.

Traub began working on products for dentists about 20 years ago and is the author of the tutorial, “The Digital Dentist.” For years he had been using printed smile-guide books when treating his patients, but he felt like he wasn’t receiving the level of feedback he wanted from patients regarding the smiles they liked. That led him to the realization that an interactive tablet app was a logical next step in helping patients see the outcome of planned dental work.

“With the app, patients can see the change happen right in front of them,” Traub said. The original Smile Guide Touch, which had 240 smile versions, enabled the dentist to show changes in both the length of the lateral incisors and shapes of the six anterior teeth with the simple press of a button, he said.

The app was designed as a tool that would improve communication between the dentist, patient and lab. Dentists and patients can work together to decide on the correct shape of the teeth — the “prescription for a smile,” Traub said. Once the smile has been designed, dentists can then print the smile or e-mail it to the lab and/or patient.

If a patient comments that he or she doesn’t like an aspect of a smile, the dentist can use the app to make the change right away, cutting down on treatment time. The “Pro” version of the app costs $99 and is available in the Apple Store.

Eventually, Traub hopes to add modules to the Smile Guide Touch. One on the drawing board will enable images of designed smiles to be integrated right into images of patients’ faces. He also hopes periodontists and orthodontists as well as cosmetic restorative dentists will see the value of his app and will begin using it to enhance their understanding of patients’ desires.

(Source: Digident and AACD)

Note: This article was published in Cosmetic Tribune U.S., Vol. 6 No. 1, April 2013.

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