INFOMEDIX ITALIAN DENTISTRY | Sharing knowledge | 5 2022
Sdt Alberto Battistelli
Can a modeling “technique” affect every part of the relationship with the patient and that between professionals?
The answer is yes, if it is a “numerical control” system, which in this case does not refer to digital but to the way of conceiving and then creating the dental shape in the mind of the professional.
How many times does it happen to have anxiety or tremor when the dental team (Doctor-dental technician) has to present a new job and a new aesthetic to the demanding patient? It is almost always a moment of tension that is often released within the team who find it difficult to get the aesthetic proposal accepted. It will be of little use to pose as artists or have the professor’s braids, if the patient sees that the teeth are too big for him/her he/she will complain! So? Who decided on those dimensions? Who made those shapes? The usual embarrassing passing of the buck in front of the patient will cause him to notice the tension and take the mirror in his hand, tragically pretending to decide for himself. The more affluent the patient, the more personality he has, the more the disaster is announced in advance. It is enough to look at certain VIP billboards to realize that the new teeth are in fact horrible. This is often due to the fact that the dental team’s lack of opportunity to impose itself in an unequivocal and objective manner leads to a position that is both determined and “ignorant” by the paying party. He asks for the mirror, gives peremptory instructions, brings photographs from “a century ago” and decides; since he chose she/he likes it even if it’s absurd! The practice’s reputation goes so down the drain with patients traveling the world with scandalous prosthetics!
How can AFG resolve these situations at the threshold of theatrical comedy? Simple, one would say in the judicial field, reversing “the burden of proof”: that is, it is not the doctor or dental technician who decides the dimensions, but the individual numbers (codes) of the patient coming from the residual teeth or from the anatomy data normal human being which AFG has been disseminating for 30 years after careful study which has earned it national and international recognition (books in 13 languages, institutional awards, etc.). It is absolutely not true that since we are all different there is no possibility of giving a codification to dental shapes, just as it is not true that there are no geometric and mathematical repetitivenesses in the human tooth that identify it as such. The tailoring works daily on all different beings, and has classified the diversity of the human race into codified sizes in order to create ideal starting models with which to achieve individuality more easily.
The sectoralized coding of the human body has served not only painters, sculptors, restorers and tailors, but also archaeologists to trace the measurements in proportional form and recover the data of the lost forms, not only of objects but also of bodies of animal or human origin. This science all ended up in AFG which, starting from ideal Gaussian curves, was able to create very simple operating codes that allow the dentist and dental technician to express a professional authority never seen before regarding the shape; but also of dental coloration. This authority has repercussions on all external and internal communication, especially within the firm. Talking with numbers convinces the intelligent and inhibits the “social-bosses” who, since they pay, know everything, decide and very often impose resounding humiliations on the professional. Not to mention those of the dental technician who, although he can sometimes pose as an artist, if he is outside the objectivity and indisputability of the numbers, he risks taking back even what could be considered well-executed work, with serious moral and economic repercussions. Not least is the legal question: what could AFG do to protect the professional who knows how to enter even just a few numerical codes to justify the choices made? Which medical examiner could enter into litigation with a detailed and numerically motivated description of the choices made on the forms? A real turnaround! Even a simple filling on the back can take on a meaning of strong communicative and substantial differentiation of the professional, especially if he owns an oral scanner. Digitizing a mouth and exposing it on a 3D monitor means, for example, showing how a filling often does not have any anatomical requirements of a natural tooth and perhaps this is why it is called with this ugly term which closely matches the meaning of the “patch”. thrown there, to remain in the sartorial field. With the AFG codes and the presentation of the project in numerical-geometric form, communication is simplified a lot! The symbology with which AFG transfers the tooth shape (point, line, triangle and wave) allows us to speak simple objective and makes us understand the functional aspects linked to the grinding and flow of food, which flow over the entire tooth shape to generate a circuit without which the fluidization of the bolus in favor of swallowing and lower muscular energy expenditure would be impossible or compromised. The AFG dentist knows how to explain all of this in a differentiating, clear, authoritative way, thus ensuring that a higher estimate can be accepted by the patient who will perceive and be able to see with his own eyes the difference between a “filling” and a restoration with all the benefits on your health. All this with one modeling technique? Yes: but only if the technique becomes a “numerical control system” with or without (even if desirable) digital support. AFG is this and more! In fact, he has a straight-forward approach to the entire marketing and management process of the company, from advertising, to communication in the waiting room, to staff training, to the way of doing and communicating during the first visit, up to the planned word of mouth. (Referral marketing). You can go even further by also thinking about a kind of “numerical identity card” that can accompany the patient from young to old age bringing with them the measurements and codes of their teeth for any future eventuality. To achieve these objectives one cannot certainly think of receiving an instruction lasting just a few days, we need at least a six-month program based on instruction and sequential practical exercises, with teaching that does not leave even the slightest detail to chance. If you promise you must be able to keep it, to do so you cannot rely only on individual creativity, because this would mean that only a few can ensure that on a patient’s face there is the light of all the well-being generated by a new smile well done. Instead, we need a method available to anyone willing to sacrifice themselves to have very high professional abilities in their mind and hands, even without having been blessed by luck.
