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| For years, Americans have admired the natural-looking, super-white, perfect teeth of Hollywood stars on film and in magazines. These smiles have become the standard for beauty in America. | |
| Unfortunately, when people tried to have the teeth they'd seen in pictures duplicated in their own mouths, the results were often disappointing. | |
| During the 1980s, the dental technician came out of the shadows and began, especially in Europe, to play a more visible role in the process of creating the ideal smile. The efforts of one man -- Willi Geller -- contributed greatly to the change. | |
| For more than two decades, Geller, a native of Austria, worked in both commercial and studio laboratories. He constantly pushed himself to discover new methods and materials to create the most lifelike restorations possible. His goal was not merely to imitate nature, but in fact, to improve upon it. "Nature makes mistakes," he explains. "My goal is to compensate for what nature did wrong and overcome the limitation." | |
| Geller succeeding in changing his profession -- not just in terms of how he worked and the techniques he used, but in terms of the philosophy behind the process. He successfully incorporated technicians as part of the dental team, consulting with patients and establishing standards for the doctors who created the foundations for the technicians' final restorations. | |
| Not surprisingly, Geller became known worldwide for his work. The teeth he created were renown for their artistry as well as for their fit and function. Geller became a designer more than merely a technician. He was able to make teeth that captured and reflected light in precisely the same way as the "natural" teeth surrounding them. His designs for smiles sparked the imaginations of colleagues and patients alike. | |
| By 1984, Geller began to share his knowledge and experience in the world of Oral Design through lectures and classes. He broke new ground, educating doctors, technicians, and patients alike about the possibilities. The technicians chosen by Geller to work in his laboratory were given the designation of "artist." Their palettes were the powdered porcelains that give teeth color and depth, and their techniques resembled fine brush strokes as they applied layers of ceramic material to produce their masterpieces. | |
| Willi Geller eventually grew dissatisfied with the available materials. From studying natural teeth in every possible lighting situation, he discovered what was missing in the materials then on the market. Working with chemists and other specialists, he derived a new material which produced teeth more easily than in the past. This material handled light beautifully, absorbing it, then reflecting it, much like a natural tooth. It is known as Creation Porcelain. | |
| "It was the light I wanted," Geller recalls. "This new porcelain takes all the colors of light from the sun and reflects it in a wonderful way. It has charisma. It has emotion. It makes matching the other teeth possible in ways never before seen in dentistry." Creation Porcelain is not a totally new material -- it is ceramic fused to metal, but contains unique optical properties that mimic the real tooth's grain structure and light refraction capabilities. | |
| Next, Geller patiently worked out a system for using the new material. The process was not unlike the discovery of oil paints in the Netherlands in the 1400s. Flemish painters devised a whole new base for pigments, and changed the course of art history forever. | |
| A whole community of professionals in the dental and technical fields has emerged as a result of the changes begun by Geller. Their mission is to bring to light the role and importance of technicians in creating the ideal smile; to set higher standards for what can be accomplished in esthetic and restorative dentistry; and to establish quality, as the industry standard. | |
| Geller has permitted a limited number of professionals to associate with his ideas and practices by calling their laboratories Oral Design Centers. At this writing, there are many in the United States -- my own laboratory in Atlanta, and others in New York, Illinois, Utah, Seattle and Massachusetts. Others have been established in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Australia, Japan, Canada, Great Britain, Israel, he Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and Malaysia. Our goal is to use uncompromising, exacting standards to achieve the highest quality, most satisfying results. We have been trained by Geller in the precise use of his systems. The results represent the next generation in esthetic dentistry. |
