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ePaper created 2015-03-10, 11:16:47 | version 1.33.01
issue 1/2015 — 53Aesthetic and Restorative Dentistry Article Fig. 17 Click “edit > stroke,” then use a two-pixel stroke line (with color set to black) to trace your selection. Make sure the transparent layer is the active working layer. Fig. 18 Image of the central incisor with a two-pixel black stroke (tracing). Fig. 19 Image of the teeth traced up to the second premolar to create a tooth grid. Fig. 20 Size the image in Photo- shop. Fig. 21 Save the grid as a .png or .psd file type and name it appropriately. Create other dimension grids using the same technique. Fig. 15 Photoshop provides an ef- fective and inexpensive way to design a digital smile with proper patient input. To start creating custom tooth grids, open an image of an attractive smile in Photoshop and create a separate transparent layer. Fig. 16 The polygonal lasso tool is an effective way to select the teeth. To begin creating a tooth grid, use a cheek-retracted image of an attractive smile as a basis (e.g., one with a 75% width-to-lengthratio).Opentheimage in Photoshop and create a new clear transparent layer on top of the teeth (Fig. 15). This transparent layer will en- able the image to be outlined without the work being embedded into the im- age. Namethelayerappropriatelyand,when promptedto identifyyourchoice of fill, choose “no fill,” since the layer will be transparent, except for the tracing of the tooth grid. Tobegintracingthetoothgrid,activate a selection tool, move to the tool palette, and select eitherthe polygonal lasso tool or the magnetic lasso tool. In the authors’ opinion, the polygonal works best. Once activated, zoom in (Fig. 16) and trace the teeth with the lasso tool. To create a pencil outline of the tooth, with the transparent layer active, click onthe edit menu inthe menu bar; inthe edit drop-down menu, select “stroke”; choose black for color, and select a two-pixel stroke pencil line (Fig. 17), which will create a perfect tracing of your selection. Click “OK” to stroke the selection. Select (trace with the lasso selection tool) one tooth at a time and then stroke it (Fig. 18). Select and stroke (trace) the teeth up to the second premolar (the first molar is ac- ceptable; Fig. 19). The image should be sized now for easy future use in a smile design. In the au- thors’experience,itisbesttoadjustthe size of the image to a height of 720 pix- els (Fig. 20) by opening up the image size menu and selecting 720 pixels for theheight.Thewidthwilladjustpropor- tionately. At this time, the tooth grid tracing can be saved, without the image of the teeth,bydouble-clickingonthelayerof the tooth image. A dialog box reading “new layer” will appear; click “OK.” This process unlocks the layer of the teeth so it can be removed. Drag the layer of the teeth to the trash, leaving only the layer with the tracing of the teeth (Fig. 21). In the file menu, click “save as” and choose “.png” or “.psd” (Photoshop) as thefiletype.Thiswillpreservethetrans- parency. You do not want to save it as a JPEG, since this would create a white background around the tracing. Name the file appropriately (e.g., 75% W/L central). By tracing several patients’ teeth that havetoothsizeandproportioninthees- thetic zone and saving them, you can createalibraryoftoothgridstocustom design new teeth for your patients who require smile designs. Fig.15 Fig.16 Fig.17 Fig.18 Fig.19 Fig.20 Fig.21