We would like to thank Dr. Fabel for his comments and his interest in our article. We certainly agree with Dr. Fabel that esthetics has been an important part of dentistry for many years. However, it is our belief that, in the past, the planning for esthetics during the restoration of a patient’s teeth typically came after the more basic steps of dealing with biology, structure and function.
We simply believe that it makes more sense to plan the entire treatment for any patient with the esthetic outcome in mind from the beginning. Therefore, we sequence the steps slightly differently, with our esthetic analysis first, followed by a careful evaluation of structure, function and biology.
We also agree with Dr. Fabel that in today’s era of cosmetic dentistry, the important principles of structure, function and biology often are left out, which of course can lead to failure of a restoration, an unhappy patient or both.
