Aesthetic Dentistry Expert – choosing aesthetic dentistry

aesthetic dentistry expertManrina Rhode explains how to find your special interest in dentistry and why aesthetic dentistry might suit you.

As dentists we have so many options available to us.

We can choose to work for the NHS or privately. We can choose to work as general practitioners, someone with a special interest or join specialist training to go on a specialist register.

Whatever we choose to do should be suited to our essence.

In the acting world they say when you play a part that suits your essence you can play it so perfectly. That’s why often actors are type cast into certain roles, they have those certain characters that suit well who they are in real life.

Finding your niche

We can do the same thing in dentistry. If you enjoy the variety of doing lots of different things then work in general practice.

If you like to work quickly, perhaps you enjoy the NHS way of working. And if you prefer to take your time with a given task then private dentistry may suit you better.

I think those who like working on intricate work, like undoing a tangled necklace, may enjoy endodontics, working with microscopes. Those who enjoy gardening may enjoy periodontics. And those who enjoy Meccano or building objects with screws may like implants, if you enjoy blood and gore you might fancy oral surgery.

If you enjoy looking at and creating beautiful things then you can consider aesthetics. You get the idea.

Aesthetics doesn’t have its own specialist register. But if you have a special interest in it, there are many courses you can go on to learn more about within this field that is not really taught at university.

Also you can do it alongside general dentistry and dabble in aesthetics when it feels appropriate.

Creating a perfect smile

Firstly you would need to learn the various elements of aesthetic dentistry.

Smile design is important so you can understand the fundamentals of a perfect smile. As is personality-driven smile design. I will do a blog post about this too.

A basic knowledge of occlusion is important. This way your work won’t fail – that’s the most stressful part of dentistry that we want to minimise as much as possible.

Teeth whitening is important to understand. You will find most of your patients want whiter teeth given the opportunity.

Simple orthodontics is important to learn. Still, work with an orthodontist for complex cases. But it’s quite satisfying to do simple orthodontics for anterior teeth yourself.

Restoring implant crowns, composite bonding and composite fillings and of course porcelain inlays, onlays, crowns and veneers are all important skills to have as an aesthetic dentist.

Offering aesthetic dentistry

Sometimes dentists message me saying they are scared to go into aesthetic dentistry because competition is too high.

Most of our patients want these treatments, so there really isn’t any competition.

Once you know how to offer them, you can offer treatments to your own list of patients. They will be happy and you will be happy.

I hope this helps those of you choosing to become an aesthetic dentist or whichever part of dentistry you choose. As long as it’s a conscious choice.


I run a four-day course teaching dentists how to complete porcelain veneers in a minimally invasive, stress free way.

See my website for more details www.DRMR.co.uk.

Catch up with previous Aesthetic Dentistry Expert columns:

Follow Dentistry.co.uk on Instagram to keep up with all the latest dental news and trends.

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