Obsession versus reason 
HUNDREDS of thousands of men lose their hair each year, and do not care or even know why. Then there are others who become quite focussed on their impending baldness, and set out to do something about it.
Similarly, millions of women are reasonably fascinated with their faces and bodies, and play the genetic cards they are dealt.  Certainly, they all fuss with themselves a bit: A hairdo here; some makeup there; with a new fashion look now and then.
However, some women (and men) seem to be obsessed with their physical appearance in general, and their mouths in particular. Unfortunately, their obsession often obliterates reason. But yet we may all learn something important from it.
A patient, whose age I estimate to be 45, came to see me at my office recently. “Hello. I’m here for your opinion,” she said, revealing ten upper teeth all bonded white and even. Her handshake was firm.
“How can I help you?”I offered pleasantly. I slipped on a fresh pair of gloves and slid my stool across from her.
Sneering her lip away from her upper front teeth, she said, “I want you to change the look of my teeth.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Can I ask you a personal question first?”
“Sure,” I said, folding my arms.
“Who is the best dentist for you?”
“I have never given that serious thought,” I answered honestly.
“Anyway, I want to talk about my lip perimeter with respect to my face and tooth shape, and lower face prominence. I want to discuss making my four front teeth longer. I have a strong upper face that I accentuate with my hairstyle, and I’ve always had a longer-than-average nose. My lower face is out of balance; it’s too weak, so I want to darken my premolars and force my mouth open with long incisors, thereby bowing my lower lip. The end result should create more lower face length and strength.”
I stared at her, genuinely dumbfounded. Indeed, I was impressed.
“Tell me exactly what is it that you require?”I mumbled. As if she did not hear me, immediately she asked, “How long do you guarantee a filling to last?”
Now, my encounter with this patient can serve to teach us three lessons. Firstly: Patients need to understand that their perceived desire is not necessarily understood, and or accepted by their dentist. Moreover, their request often may not even be possible. Although it may be difficult for one to appreciate, we occasionally believe that dentistry is a profession capable of producing miraculous results. For example, many wealthy patients sincerely feel that their strong financial ability is enough to pay a dentist to provide them with a smile, replete with youth, beauty and sex appeal, despite prevailing negative attributes of age, neglect and self-abuse.
The second lesson to be learnt from my patient is that if someone visits a dentist with enough knowledge of dentistry to more or less startle his or her dentist, that patient gets enough approbation to place them on a level of mutual understanding and respect. This state of affairs could be beneficial for the patient.
Finally, patients need to understand fully the question of whether or not dental work could be guaranteed. Try asking a salesman whether the television or stereo set you bought is guaranteed against breakage. It is the same thing as asking if the dentist could guarantee that the filling placed in your mouth would last as long as you would like it to. The simple answer is that it is up to you. I have placed fillings in teeth of my father’s friends when I was a dental student well over a quarter of a century ago, and they are still in good shape (referring to the fillings).