A course participant begins to design a smile using the DSD App.
By Christian Coachman
⋅ 4 min read
⋅ 31 May 2024
If developing and expressing your smile design vision - not to mention communicating it to your patient and your lab - seems like an unpredictable adventure, we have a tool that may help you: the DSD App.
In this article we’ll answer some common questions to clear up any doubts you may have about the app and how it works.
What is the DSD App?
The DSD App is a 2D digital tool that can help you create quick, simple smile simulations to show your patients and your lab.
Want to start creating smile simulations?
Click below to find out how you can master the DSD App in your workflows.
Why do I need the DSD App?
Using the app, you can take a facial image of your patient, develop the guidelines and then create a smile simulation.
It’s a great tool to have by your side in your first appointment and initial communication with your patient, as it enables you to quickly and easily show them a visual before and after of their smile. Not only that, but the images you create will be key when it comes to expressing the starting point of the smile design project with your lab so it can then be moved into the 3D world.
The app and the smile simulation tools can also be used when you reach the restorative moment of the treatment in order to evaluate your preps, make suggestions to your patient and make sure that you test drive the smile design in 2D before wasting time and energy.
We also believe that the DSD App is a wonderful tool simply to practice smile design. Christian Coachman is a big advocate for drawing and believes that 2D drawings are the gateway to a greater understanding of how to develop smiles in 3D. By using the guidelines, positioning the smile frame and testing smile simulations, you will start activating the artistic side of your brain and improve your smile design skills.
Put simply, the app can help you to:
Create a starting point for your plan
The DSD App is a tool that allows you to study your patient’s face and familiarize yourself with the initial situation by tracing lines and curves (the Smile Frame) to identify the ideal position and characteristics of the smile for your patient. It is also a visual tool for initial case planning and storing the images you create.Communicate visually with patients
Patients understand what they see with their own eyes and the DSD App is a quick and easy way to show them the potential for their smile. Incorporating the DSD App as a visual tool can support your first appointment and communication with patients by setting clear expectations from the start and showing them a realistic and achievable outcome.
A patient smiles at a dentist in the dental chair.
Get on the same page with your lab
Incorporate visual communication to reduce the back and forth when it comes to requests between you and your lab.Reduce repetitions
Use the DSD App to make modifications during the provisional phase and send them to your lab before the final restorations are manufactured.
Is the DSD App really free?
Yes, the DSD App is free to download and use from the App Store.
If you want to learn how to make the most of the app in your workflows, we offer DSD App Certification training on our online e-learning platform, DSD Online.
DSD Online's monthly subscription plan costs $35 a month.
How do I learn to use the DSD App?
You can enroll in our DSD App Certification training on our e-learning platform, DSD Online.
The certification is made up of two courses that will give you a full grounding in how to use the app.
1. DSD App: the basic principles
Learn the basics of the app, its features, and how and why to implement it as part of your daily clinic workflows.
2. Smile designing with the DSD App
Learn to use the DSD App tools to customize your smile simulations.
Isn’t it better to use a smile design app that's in 3D, or that uses AI?
We know that the world today is 3D and many smile design tools and softwares are now powered by AI. But we still believe in a simple 2D solution in which you have the freedom to draw your lines, place the incisal edge, midline, morphology, etc. wherever you think is ideal - meaning you are still in control of the project.
The tool needs to be simple, but still give you some freedom so that you can be the artist and the one developing the smile design instead of an artificial intelligence tool that does everything for you. You need to be in charge because you need to express your vision and you need to make the patient see that you know what you're doing.
This is even better if you can do it in front of the patient. And even better if you can connect this project with the 3D world. That's the idea with the simple tool that the DSD App brings back to you.
A participant uses the tools on the DSD App to begin a smile design.
Is the DSD App useful for my lab technician?
This is a tool that not only dentists but also labs should leverage.
Lab technicians are now receiving more and more facial pictures from their doctors and they can use the app to quickly express their vision of how they think the smile should be before they start working in 3D. So it's a two-sided communication tool: dentists can use the smile simulation tools to express their vision to patients in labs, and lab technicians can also use the same tool to test drive their vision and communicate back to the dentist before wasting time in the 3D world.
If I have the DSD App, does that mean I’m doing DSD?
No - it's very important to point out that Digital Smile Design is not only the app and using the DSD App doesn’t mean you’re doing DSD.
The DSD app is a 2D smile simulator that forms one little piece of the whole DSD workflow.
Why don’t you have an Android version of the DSD App?
The DSD App is an iPad exclusive application and there are currently no plans to develop an Android version.
Want to learn to use the DSD App?
If you would like to incorporate 2D smile simulations into your workflow, you can download and use the DSD App for free right now.
And to learn to take full advantage of all the tools available in the app, check out our DSD App Certification program for on-demand training on our e-learning platform, DSD Online.
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