Professor Argirios Pissiotis

"Esthetic Considerations in the Edentulous State"

Abstract
The loss of natural teeth is associated with moderate to severe changes which affect the facial esthetics of patients. The resorption of the alveolar process takes place immediately after tooth extraction and continues until it reaches basal bone. This results in loss of the vertical dimension of occlusion, loss of soft tissue support and moderate to severe alteration of the lower third of the face. Although restoring the functional aspects of tooth loss has been addressed in the dental literature with multiple publications little attention has been given to the restoration of the appearance of the edentulous patient. It seems that function was thought by dentists to be the primary concern of the edentulous patients despite that when patients were asked, they considered the esthetic appearance as a predominant factor in Complete Denture success. Historically the earliest dental restorations were created for esthetic purposes disregarding function but as a more scientific approach was introduced for denture fabrication more consideration was given to rehabilitate the function and the esthetic appearance was left to dentist driven norms. Nowadays Complete Denture fabrication is based in anthropocentric principles and thus success is measured with patient satisfaction. This makes the esthetic appearance a basic factor in complete denture success. The basic esthetic principles will be reviewed and their incorporation in Complete Denture fabrication will discussed with the aim of satisfying the edentulous patient’s needs.

Dr. Argirios L. Pissiotis is Professor of Removable Prosthodontics in the Department of Prosthodontics, School of Dentistry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He has earned his Certificate in Prosthodontics from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in 1982, and a Master in Science Degree from the same University in December 1983. He has earned his PhD from the School of Dentistry Health Sciences Faculty of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 1989. He served as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Prosthodontics from 2004 to 2018.He served as President of the Balkan Stomatological Society (BaSS)(2017-2019) and President of the European Section of the International College of Dentists (2018-2019). Since 2013 he is a member of the Specialization Committee of the European Prostthodontic Association (EPASC) and from 2015-2019 he was Honorary Secretary of this Committee. Since September of 2019 he is Chairing the EPASC. From 2016 to 2020 he has been external examiner of the Distance Learning MClinDent Program «Fixed and Removable Prosthodontics» of Kings College London UK. Since November 2021 he is Vice President of the International College of Dentistry and President -Elect since November 2022. He has authored and co-authored more than 70 peer reviewed publications in Greek and International Scientific Journals. He is married to Christina Kosmidou and they have a daughter and a son.