Renowned dentist Dr. Ariel Merino has had a passion for helping people achieve their best smile since he was a child. With years of experience in the industry, he shares how he developed his love for what he does and gives insight into the practice of ‘smile design’.
Ariel, what made you decide to be a dentist?
At 14 I went to the dentist for the first time. From there it all began since I was very curious about the instruments. That was my first experience with my love for dentistry. After I graduated from dental school, in my first year of DDS I was selected from my colleagues to travel to the aesthetic congress in Brazil and it was there that I had my first contact with cosmetic dentistry and veneers. This is where my love for the aesthetics of Brazilian speakers such as Cristian Coachman Rogerio Marcondes, Oswaldo Scopin, and others grew.
Of all Latin America, Brazilians are the ones who most integrate cosmetic dentistry in their daily practices. That congress and that particular trip opened a whole new world for me and I wanted to bring all that experience back to Argentina. My first veneer patient was within a few months of that trip. When finishing that first smile design with veneers, seeing the result, and feeling the gratitude of the patient, I felt a lot of happiness and from that moment I decided that I wanted to do that for the rest of my life.
Can cosmetic dentistry correct any dental problem?
Yes, most of them. With veneers we can correct 2 major problems in dentistry: the shape of the teeth and tooth color generally. For a full smile, we need to do 20 veneers, 10 for the upper jaw and 10 for the lower jaw. Sometimes patients only do 10 in the upper jaw and decide not to have it done in their lower jaw, either because of cost or because they don’t look at the teeth on their bottom jaw as much as their upper jaw.
Another treatment that we can propose to correct the smile is invisible aligners. This treatment mainly corrects the incorrect position of the teeth. Many patients finishing their orthodontic treatment need veneers and this is the right way to do it. First the position of your teeth is corrected and then we can later correct the shape and color with veneers. That is the magic combination to achieve a perfect smile.
What is a “smile design”?
Smile Design is when we carry out a smile project with the patient using different treatments. If we compare it with architecture, it would be like making the plans for a house or a building.
First the 2D plans are made and we take photographs of the patient. Just like in architecture, I can then make 3D renderings of how the building is going to look long before even putting in a single brick. In dentistry we can also do that with technology since we have dental software that allows us to design a smile.
Without even starting any treatment, it is a very good tool for the patient to see how they can achieve a perfect smile. That could be with invisible aligners, but there are many different ways to achieve a wonderful result which we can draw on the image. Alternatively, we can build a 3D resin model and show the patient in dental software our plan and our digital smile design project for him.
It is an amazing way to show the end result without starting any treatment yet.
We know that you are one of the leaders in smile design, can you tell us more about it?
I don’t consider myself a leader, but I love encouraging many dentists to get this kind of result with veneers because we have the power to change lives and not many dentists have that mindset.
That is why I founded my course called Fullesthetic to teach my philosophy of working with veneers. I have done more than 5000 veneers so I am an expert in this area. This experience has allowed me to travel to more than 20 countries as a speaker. Due to the pandemic, I also used the online platform Fullnapsis.com where my online courses in dentistry are.
This platform allows me to continue providing knowledge through courses where colleagues, no matter where they are, can access it. There are also many other expert colleagues in cosmetic dentistry on this online platform.
What are the benefits of a smile design?
We always said that we can change lives and that is what we do when we design a smile. It is not only a whiter smile, veneers are much more than that.
We are restoring trust to patients, solving years of low self-esteem and, most importantly, putting a bright smile back on our patients’ faces.
Who could be a candidate for a smile design?
Almost everyone because even if the patient does not have teeth we can put implants and a prosthesis on top. We can give back the possibility of smiling to our patients. If you need to change your smile we can give you a complete plan to achieve a whole new smile.
What would you say is what worries your patients the most?
They come to my clinic thinking that their problem has no solution since they have visited many dentists without a definitive solution to their aesthetic problem. Many patients also come concerned because they have heard that you need to wear the teeth a lot with veneers. In the vast majority of cases, dental wear is not necessary to have veneers, only in particular cases do they require wear. For example, when a patient comes with a very dark tooth, a certain wear of the tooth is required to make veneers.
We currently need some kind of minimal tooth preparation, about 0.3mm so far from the typical crown. You need less than 2mm almost 20 times. This has less wear and tear than treatments from 10 years ago but unfortunately many colleagues are currently unknowing of this. They continue doing these treatments that are considered very invasive compared to dental veneers where in many cases 100% of the dental structure is preserved.
Finally, what are your plans for the future?
We are so grateful to live in this age that technology allows the dentist to do the entire process digitally. Both dentists and patients can save enormous amounts of time compared to conventional techniques and above all improve the experience of coming to the dentist, which for many is still an experience that causes a lot of anxiety and ignites fears.
We are in an era where our workflow is much more precise and we are proud of the time we are living as healthcare professionals. We are still very excited about what is coming and what the future holds for us.
Thank you Ariel for your time!
You can follow up with Ariel Merino at:
- Instagram @drarielmerino
- TikTok @drarielmerino
- Twitch @drarielmerino
- YouTube @ArielMerino
