What Is Digital Smile Design (DSD)? How It Works, the Mock-up and Cost in 2026

Digital smile design (DSD) is a planning method in which the dentist designs your new teeth on photographs and a 3D scan of your own face and mouth, then lets you try that design on your teeth as a temporary mock-up before anything is drilled. At our clinic in Fethiye it is part of treatment planning for veneers and crowns at no separate fee; in the UK it is typically sold on its own for about £140 to £300. This guide explains what the design actually measures, what it can and cannot promise, how it fits into a 5 to 7 day veneer trip, and what to ask any clinic that offers it.

What digital smile design actually is

A smile design combines three records: photographs and a short video of your face, a digital scan of your teeth, and the dentist's clinical examination. On these records the dentist plans the shape of each visible tooth in relation to your face, not in isolation. The main measurements are:

• Facial and dental midline. Whether the line between your two front teeth sits under the centre of your face, and whether it is upright or tilted.

• Smile arc. The curve formed by the edges of the upper teeth. In a natural smile it follows the curve of the lower lip; a flat or reversed arc looks older and more artificial.

• Tooth display at rest. How much of the upper front teeth shows when your lips are relaxed. This decides whether teeth should be lengthened or not.

• Proportions. The width to length ratio of the central incisors and how the lateral incisors and canines step back from them.

• Gum line. Whether the gum margins are level and symmetrical, and whether a gummy smile needs contouring before veneers.

• Shade. A target shade chosen against your skin, eyes and the teeth that will not be treated.

The result is a two-dimensional design drawn over your photographs and a three-dimensional digital model of the new teeth. That model is the important part: it can be printed and turned into a mock-up that you wear in your own mouth.

Step by step: from photographs to your new teeth

1. Records

Photographs of your full smile, your face at rest, your profile and your teeth with the lips held back, a short video of you talking and smiling, a digital scan of both arches and an X-ray. Video matters because people judge a smile in motion, not in a still frame.

2. Analysis and design

The dentist marks the midline, smile arc and gum line, then designs tooth length, width and edge shape. The aim is a smile that fits your face, which is not always the same as the "ideal" proportions in a textbook.

3. Discussion and changes

You see the design and say what you would change: slightly longer, softer corners, a less uniform look, a different shade. Photographs of your own teeth from a few years ago are often the best reference for shape.

4. The mock-up on your own teeth

The approved design is printed as a model, a silicone key is made from it, and tooth-coloured resin is pressed over your existing teeth. No drilling is involved and it comes off afterwards. You can look in a mirror, speak, smile and take photographs. Of all the steps, this is the one that tells you most about the final result.

5. Preparation guided by the design

Once you approve the mock-up, the dentist prepares the teeth through it, removing enamel only where the new shape needs space. For veneers this is typically 0.3 to 0.7 mm from the front surface, and some teeth that are already short or set back need very little. Without a design to work to, preparation tends to be more generous "to be safe", and enamel does not grow back.

6. Temporaries, laboratory and try-in

The temporary veneers are copied from the same design, so you live with the planned shape for a few days. The laboratory works from the approved files, and at the try-in the ceramic is compared with the design before it is bonded.

What a smile design can predict, and what it cannot

A design reliably shows proportions, length, the midline, the smile arc, how many teeth show in your widest smile and whether gum contouring is needed. That last point prevents over-treatment: many people who ask for 20 veneers show 8 or 10 teeth when they smile, and the design makes that visible before anyone quotes for 20.

It cannot show the exact translucency and surface texture of the final E-max ceramic, which looks more natural than resin; the precise shade under every light; or how your gums will respond. A screen simulation can also be made to look perfect, because it is a picture. The mock-up on your teeth is honest in a way a screen is not, so be cautious of a clinic that shows you only an image and moves straight to preparation.

Which treatments use digital smile design

• Veneers on a few front teeth, where the new teeth must match the untreated ones next to them. Prices and small cases are covered in our laminate veneers cost guide.

• Full sets of 16 to 20 units, where the design decides how many teeth actually need treatment. See the full set veneers cost guide.

• Hollywood smile cases, covered in our Hollywood smile guide.

• Crowns in the smile zone, where a crown has to sit naturally next to veneers or natural teeth.

• Gummy smile and gum contouring, planned together with the teeth so that the gum line and tooth length are decided once. Details in the gummy smile treatment guide.

• Front implants, where the position of the implant crown and the gum level have to be planned before surgery.

• Whitening only needs a target shade, not a full design.

Digital smile design vs Hollywood smile

Digital smile design is a planning tool; a Hollywood smile is a result. A Hollywood smile can look natural or obviously artificial, and the difference is decided during the design: shade (A1 or B1 reads as bright and healthy, the BL bleach shades are whiter than any natural tooth), tooth length, how uniform the edges are, and whether healthy teeth are veneered rather than crowned. Our Hollywood smile vs veneers comparison and the turkey teeth cost guide explain why those decisions matter more than the brand of ceramic.

What digital smile design costs

Where

Smile design

Note

UK private, sold on its own

Typically from about £140 to £300

London listings higher; often bundled into a cosmetic consultation

Ireland, private

Around 150 EUR at some clinics

Sometimes credited against treatment

Smile & Holiday, Fethiye

No separate fee

Part of the treatment plan for veneers and crowns

The design is not where the money goes. At our clinic E-max veneers cost 280 to 400 EUR per tooth and a full set of 16 to 20 units typically 4,500 to 8,000 EUR. If a clinic at home charges for the design, ask whether the fee is credited against treatment if you go ahead.

Can I see a design before I travel?

Partly. From the photographs you send through the consultation form we prepare a written treatment plan: which teeth, veneer or crown, material and price. Where the photographs allow, a preliminary design preview can be shared before you book. The measured design and the mock-up, however, need the scan and the examination, so they are done in the clinic on day 1. Nothing irreversible happens on day 1; if you do not like the mock-up, the design is changed before any tooth is touched.

How to take photographs that are useful

• A full, natural smile, face straight to the camera.

• Your face at rest with lips relaxed and slightly apart.

• A profile from the side, smiling.

• A close-up of the teeth with lips held back, upper and lower teeth together.

• Daylight from a window, no flash, no filters, camera at mouth height.

How it fits into a 5 to 7 day veneer trip

• Day 1: examination, X-ray, scan, photographs and video, design, mock-up, shape and shade agreed.

• Day 2: preparation through the mock-up, temporaries made from the design.

• Days 3 to 5: laboratory work; your time is free.

• Day 5 or 6: try-in of the ceramic against the design, adjustments to shape or shade.

• Day 6 or 7: final bonding and bite check.

The design does not lengthen the trip. It moves the decisions to day 1, when they can still be changed.

Questions to ask any clinic about its smile design

• Is a mock-up on my own teeth included before preparation, or only a picture on a screen?

• Can I change the design, and how many rounds of changes are possible?

• Who designs it: the treating dentist, a technician, or a coordinator?

• Does the laboratory work from the approved files, and are the temporaries copied from them?

• Which shade is written in my plan, and why?

• How much enamel will be removed per tooth, and are any teeth left unprepared?

• Will I receive the design images to keep?

How we do it in Fethiye

Dr. Mustafa Besli, who has practised aesthetic dentistry and implantology for over 15 years, reviews your photographs and leads the design and mock-up on day 1. You approve the shape and shade before preparation, the laboratory works from the approved design, and you leave with a written guarantee: 5 years on E-max veneers, 3 years on zirconia crowns. Dalaman airport is about 50 minutes from the clinic and transfers are included. If the design shows that whitening and two small bonded edges would achieve what you want, that is what the plan will say.