Smile trials: how practices use printed mock-ups before veneers
A smile trial lets a patient see and feel planned veneers before any tooth is prepared. Here is how the mock-up is made and what the lab needs.
By the Tusko team
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A smile trial puts the planned result in the patient’s mouth before any tooth is touched.
The patient sees it on their own face, and the dentist sees how it works with the lips and the bite.
It turns a discussion about shape and length into something both can look at. Changes are made to a mock-up, where they cost little.
This guide covers how the mock-up is made, what to record at the trial, and what the lab needs at each stage.
What a smile trial is
A smile trial is a temporary copy of the planned teeth, worn over the patient’s own for a short time.
It starts as a design. That design is a wax-up, built by hand on a model or drawn in software.
The design is then transferred to the mouth. A mould of the design is filled with a temporary material and seated over the teeth.
When it sets and the mould comes away, the patient is wearing the proposed smile.
Three related terms are easy to mix up.
| Term | What it is |
|---|---|
| Smile design | The plan, on photos and scans |
| Wax-up | The plan as a 3D shape, in wax or as a file |
| Mock-up, or smile trial | The wax-up carried into the patient’s mouth |
Why practices use one
A veneer case is hard to describe in words. “A little longer, a little fuller” means different things to different people.
The patient agrees to something they have seen. That is a sounder basis than a sketch or a photo of someone else.
Problems show early. A length that looks right on a model may catch the lip, or change how an “f” sounds.
The preparation can be guided by it. A dentist who knows the final shape can plan how much, and how little, to remove.
The lab gets a target. An approved mock-up tells the technician what the patient liked.
The cost is a visit and a lab step. Many dentists find the agreement worth it for anything in the smile line.
When it helps most
- Several front teeth are changing at once
- The plan alters length, or closes spaces
- The patient is unsure what they want
- The patient has very exact wishes
It adds less for a single veneer made to match its neighbours. There, the neighbours are the design.
The workflow, step by step
A smile trial case, step by step
A flow of the eight steps of a smile trial case, with who does each and what moves on: records, design, the mock-up kit, the trial, feedback, revision, approval, and preparation and final work.
Records
Moves on: photos, scans and the patient’s wishes.
Practice
Design
Moves on: a digital design or wax-up.
Dentist or lab
Mock-up kit
Moves on: a printed model of the design, and a matrix.
Lab, or the practice’s printer
The trial
Moves on: the mock-up in the mouth.
Practice
Feedback
Moves on: notes, photos and a scan of the mock-up.
Patient and dentist
Revision
Moves on: a changed design, if needed.
Dentist or lab
Approval
Moves on: a signed-off shape.
Patient
Preparation and final work
Moves on: veneers that copy the approved design.
Practice and lab
Steps four to six can repeat. Many cases settle after one round, and some need two.
What the lab needs to design it
A design is only as good as the records behind it. Send the lab these.
- A full-face photo with a natural smile
- A full-face photo at rest, with the lips slightly apart
- A close-up smile, and a retracted view of the teeth
- A profile photo
- Scans of both arches and the bite
- What the patient wants, in their own words
- What the dentist wants: length, shape, and anything to avoid
- The shade the patient is hoping for
The seventh item saves time. A technician who knows the dentist wants to keep the canines as they are will not redesign them.
How to photograph a case for your dental lab covers how to take each picture.
Tell the lab how you will make the mock-up. A printed model and a matrix, or a printed shell, are different things to send back.
Run the trial
Book enough time. The patient needs to look, talk, and get used to it for a few minutes.
Seat the mock-up, clear away the excess and let the patient see it in a hand mirror first, then a wall mirror.
Ask them to talk, smile and say a few words with “f”, “v” and “s” in them. Watch the lip against the edges of the teeth.
Take the same photos as before, with the mock-up in place. Take a short video of the patient speaking, if they agree.
Then scan it. A scan of the mock-up in the mouth is the most exact record of what was approved.
Have the assistant write while the dentist and the patient talk. Notes made later from memory lose the details that matter.
Many patients want to show someone at home. A photo on their phone is fine, and some dentists let the mock-up stay in for a short while.
Record what was said
The trial produces opinions. Write them down before the patient leaves.
| Ask about | Record |
|---|---|
| Length | Too long, too short, or right, tooth by tooth |
| Shape | Rounder, squarer, more or less pointed |
| Fullness | How the teeth support the lips |
| The midline | Whether it looks centred to the patient |
| Speech | Any sound that felt different |
| Colour | Brighter, or more natural |
Record the dentist’s view beside the patient’s. Where they differ, note what was agreed.
If you adjusted the mock-up at the chair, scan it again. The lab has to copy the version the patient saw last.
This is where smile trial cases go wrong. The patient approves a shape, and the lab is sent the design from before the changes.
Approval, and what comes after
When the patient is happy, record the approval and which version it applies to. A date and a file name are enough.
Send the lab the scan of the approved mock-up, the photos and the notes. That set becomes the target for the final veneers.
Give the patient a copy of the approved photos. It reminds them what they chose when the temporaries feel unfamiliar.
The same shape guides the temporaries the patient wears after preparation. They become a second, longer trial.
If the patient wants a change after living with the temporaries, tell the lab before the finals are made. A note then is cheap, and a remake later is not.
Keep a staged case on track
A smile trial case has more stages than a crown, and each has a date.
- Records sent, and the design due back
- The mock-up kit due back
- The trial appointment
- The revision, if there is one
- The preparation appointment
- The try-in of the final veneers
- The seat
Book one stage at a time, against a date the lab has confirmed. A stage booked on hope is the one that slips.
Tell the patient the whole sequence at the start, so that no visit comes as a surprise.
Keep every file and note on one record. A case with eight handoffs cannot live in an inbox.
Dental lab turnaround times covers planning the dates, and shade communication with your dental lab covers the colour.
On Tusko, the photos, scans and messages for each stage stay on the same case. See how it looks for practices.
For the choice between printing the mock-up yourself and sending it out, read in-house dental lab vs outsourcing.
Is a smile trial the same as a wax-up?
The wax-up is the design, made in wax or on a screen. The smile trial is that design carried into the patient’s mouth in a temporary material, so they can see it on their own face.
Does a smile trial affect the teeth?
It is placed over the teeth as they are and removed afterwards. How it is fixed and for how long is the dentist’s decision, and worth asking about for your own case.
How many visits does a smile trial add?
At least one, and a second if the design is changed and tried again. Practices that use it accept that in exchange for agreement before any tooth is prepared.
Who designs the smile trial, the dentist or the lab?
Either. Some dentists design it themselves, and many send photos and scans to a lab that designs it and returns a printed model and a matrix. Agree who does what before the first case.
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A few consistent photos tell a dental lab what a scan cannot. Here is the set to take, how to take a shade photo, and how to send them with the case.
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