Introduction:

Advances in the field of aesthetic dentistry have provided increasingly innovative methods for building a functional and harmonious smile. The high degree of patient demand for details and for personalized smiles shows the need for clinicians to use means that facilitate communication for better understanding of their patients regarding the proposed treatment.

Objective:

To carry out a literature review on digital smile planning in dentistry.

Methods:

This literature review was performed using the descriptors estética dental [dental aesthetics], sonrisa [smile], and fotografía dental [dental photography], in Portuguese, English and Spanish. A book and 302 articles were retrieved, of which the book and 51 articles were used as scientific basis for the study.

Information analysis and integration:

Advances in computer science, digital photography and image processing, as well as the reduction of costs involved, have allowed traditional dental planning in dentistry for aesthetic treatments to evolve towards digital planning and to provide comprehensive diagnostic insight. This has improved communication between patients and professional teams involved and has made treatment more predictable. Thus, the patient's understanding has been facilitated, as well as is has permitted his or her critical analysis and more active participation in planning.

Final considerations:

The techniques used to carry out digital smile planning make the procedures more predictable and improve the visualization and understanding in each stage. The concept of visagism does not present a sufficient scientific basis. The applications of golden ratio concepts into dentistry have been extensively studied, but, due to the existence of other parameters, their use is not consensual.

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