Smile design in Turkey: what it is and how it works

What a smile design actually looks at

A good design starts with your face, not with a catalogue of teeth. The dentist and technician look at:

• The midline: whether the centre of your front teeth lines up with the centre of your face.
• The smile line: how much tooth and gum show when you smile, talk and rest your lips.
• Tooth proportions: the width of each front tooth compared with its length, and how the sizes step down from the central teeth to the canines.
• The incisal edges: the line made by the biting edges, which in a natural smile usually follows the curve of the lower lip.
• Gum level: whether the gum line is even, and whether uneven gums would make new teeth look uneven too.
• Colour: a shade that suits your skin, the whites of your eyes and your age. See veneer shades explained.
• Your bite: how the teeth meet, so new edges are not overloaded.

The steps, in order

1. Photos and videoFront and side photos of your face and smile, and often a short video of you talking and laughing, because a smile moves.
2. A scan or impressionA digital scan of your teeth gives an exact 3D model to design on.
3. The digital designSoftware lets the dentist draw new tooth outlines over your photos and the model. This is where length, width and shape are agreed.
4. A wax-up or printed modelThe design is turned into a physical or digital model of the new teeth.
5. A trial in your mouthMany clinics can copy the design onto your teeth in temporary material, so you can see and feel it before anything is prepared.
6. Preparation, making and fittingOnly then are teeth prepared, and the veneers or crowns made to match the agreed design.

What a design cannot promise

A design is a drawing of an intention. It cannot fix gum disease, move teeth that are badly out of line, or make a weak tooth strong. Research on digital smile design describes it as a tool for analysis and communication; it does not replace the dentist's examination or judgement (Thomas et al., 2022). It also cannot guarantee that the colour on a screen will match the colour of real ceramic under your bathroom light.

If a design looks perfect but the plan says every tooth needs a crown, ask why. A beautiful picture is not a reason to remove healthy tooth. Our page on veneers or crowns explains the difference.

Natural or bright?

Most people over 50 who ask us about veneers want to look like themselves on a good day, not like someone else. A design for a natural result usually keeps small differences between teeth, a slightly softer edge and a shade that suits the skin. A brighter, more uniform look is possible, but it is a choice, and it is much easier to make at the design stage. Our page on the Hollywood smile covers the bright end of the range.

Questions to ask about any smile design

• Is the preview based on my own photos and a scan of my teeth?
• Will I see a trial of the design in my mouth before any tooth is prepared?
• For each tooth in the design, is it a veneer, a crown, bonding or no treatment?
• Who makes the final teeth, and is the design sent to them as it is?
• If I want a change after the trial, is that included?

A design from photos, before you travel

A first look at your smile can start from photos you send from home. It won't replace the scan and examination in the clinic, but it helps you see whether the changes you want are realistic. Take the photos in daylight and include one of you talking, as well as smiling. Our guide to photos to send for a veneer quote shows the angles that help most.

Shade on screen and in real life

A screen shows colour differently from ceramic in your mouth. Research on shade matching found it was more accurate under controlled, daylight-type light (Perou et al., 2025), so the final shade is best chosen in the clinic with a shade guide next to your teeth, not from a picture on a tablet.

Common questions

Is smile design a treatment in itself?

No. It is the planning step. The treatment that follows may be veneers, crowns, bonding, whitening or a mix, and sometimes a design shows that very little needs doing.

Does digital smile design cost extra?

At many clinics it is part of a veneer package. Ask whether the preview and any trial mock-up are included in your written price.

Will my final teeth look exactly like the preview?

They should be close in shape and proportion, but a screen and real ceramic are different. Colour in particular looks different in daylight, under clinic lights and in photos. A try-in before bonding is the best check.

Can I change the design after seeing it?

You should be able to. Length, shape and shade are easier to change at the design or mock-up stage than after teeth are prepared.

Do I need to send anything before the trip?

Clear photos of your smile from the front and both sides help the dentist give an early opinion. The full design is made after an examination.

Sources

1. Thomas PA et al. (2022) Digital Smile Design. J Pharm Bioallied Sci
2. Stanley M et al. (2018) Fully digital workflow integrating dental scan, smile design and CAD-CAM. BMC Oral Health
3. Oral Health Foundation: veneers
4. NHS: treatment abroad checklist
5. Perou C et al. (2025) Effectiveness of lighting conditions on shade matching accuracy. Dent J (Basel)

Checked October 2026. Where we give our own view as a clinic, we say so.