The evolution of dental esthetics.

Dental esthetics has been based for a long time, on time-honoured theories where the restored or replaced teeth had to match the face shape while providing due respect to the sex, the age and the personality of the patient. Most of these theories have since been disproved and the standards of dental esthetics have been revised following surveys of naturally perfect smiles and patients' preferences. Guidelines are presented in a sequence of 5 easily applicable steps with the objective of creating the right smile for the right patient.