What Is a Trial Smile?
Choosing veneers from a photo or a computer screen is a leap of faith. A trial smile lets you wear the proposed design on your own teeth, talk and smile with it, and change your mind, all before a single tooth is touched.
Is a Trial Smile Worth Having Before Veneers in Edinburgh?
A trial smile is a temporary resin mock-up, made from your smile design and placed over your own teeth, so you can see, feel and test a new smile before any tooth is prepared. At Comely Bank Dental in Edinburgh, a trial smile is from £250 and the smile design it is made from is from £250. Nothing permanent is done, and you can change the design or decide not to go ahead.
What Exactly Is a Trial Smile?
A trial smile is a temporary, tooth-coloured copy of the smile we're planning for you, fitted over your existing teeth for you to try. It's made directly from your digital smile design, so it shows the proposed shape, length and position of each tooth in your own face rather than on a screen.
You may also hear it called a mock-up or a smile preview. Whatever the name, three things define it:
- it's reversible. It sits on the surface of your teeth and comes off in one piece, with no drilling and no anaesthetic
- it's yours. It's built from your scan, photos and design, not from a generic template
- it's a test. Its job is to find out what you like and don't like before anything permanent happens
At Comely Bank Dental, I use trial smiles mainly before porcelain veneers and larger smile makeovers, though the same idea can help with composite bonding.
How Is It Made From Your Smile Design?
It starts with records: clinical photographs, a short video of you talking and smiling, and a 3D scan of your teeth with our iTero scanner. From these I create the smile design, which sets the proportions of each tooth, how much of the edges show when your lips are relaxed, and how the smile line follows your lower lip.
The design is turned into a 3D model of your teeth as they would look after treatment. From that model we make a clear, close-fitting mould. At the appointment, the mould is filled with a tooth-coloured resin, seated over your teeth for a couple of minutes while the resin sets, then lifted away. The resin stays on your teeth in the shape of the design, and I trim and smooth the edges.
The whole process is quick and comfortable. Most people are surprised that there's nothing more to it.
See Your New Smile First
Book an appointment to talk about veneers or a smile makeover. We'll tell you whether a trial smile would help in your case and set out every fee in writing first.
What Can You Test with a Trial Smile?
This is where a trial smile earns its place. Take your time, and treat it as a rehearsal of everyday life with new teeth.
Shape and proportion. Are the front teeth the width you imagined? Do the corners look too square or too round? Do the side teeth fill the smile, or is there a dark gap at the corners?
Length. Look at how much tooth shows when your lips are relaxed and when you smile broadly. A millimetre makes a visible difference here.
Speech. Say words with "f", "v", "s" and "th" sounds, and count from 60 to 70 out loud. If the edges catch your lower lip or you notice a lisp, the length or position may need adjusting.
Lips and face. Teeth support the lips. A design that brings the teeth forward slightly can make the upper lip look fuller, which some people like and others don't. Check yourself in profile as well as from the front.
Photos. Take photos and a short video on your own phone, in different light. Many people find these more honest than a mirror, and they're useful for showing someone whose opinion you value.
How Does Your Feedback Change the Plan?
Every comment you make is recorded against the design. If you'd like the central teeth a touch shorter, the canines less pointed or the smile slightly wider, I update the design. If the changes are significant, we can make a second trial smile so you can see the revised version.
Some feedback leads to a different plan altogether. You might find that you prefer a subtler change than you expected, which could mean fewer veneers, or composite bonding instead of porcelain. Occasionally the trial smile shows that straightening the teeth first would give a better result with less preparation. That's a good outcome too: it's far better to learn it at this stage than after treatment.
How the Trial Smile Guides the Final Veneers
Once you've approved the trial smile, it stops being a preview and becomes the blueprint for everything that follows.
- Preparation. I often prepare teeth through the trial smile itself. Because the mock-up shows where each finished surface will sit, I can remove only what the porcelain needs, and sometimes nothing at all from certain areas. This is one of the main ways to keep preparation minimal.
- Temporaries. Your temporary veneers are made from the same approved design, so the teeth you wear while the laboratory works look much like the trial smile.
- The laboratory. The ceramist receives the design, the photos of you wearing the trial smile and notes on any changes, so the porcelain is built to the shape you've already approved.
The step-by-step process from consultation to bonding is set out on our porcelain veneers page.
Is Anything Permanent Done at This Stage?
No. A trial smile is placed over your natural teeth without removing any enamel, and it's taken off at the end of the appointment. Your teeth are left exactly as they were.
There's also no commitment. Having a trial smile doesn't oblige you to go ahead with veneers. Some people try it, decide they're happy with their own teeth after a clean and some teeth whitening, and leave it there.
That freedom is the point. The irreversible part of veneers is the preparation, and the trial smile sits entirely before it.
What a Trial Smile Can and Can't Show You
A trial smile is an excellent guide to shape, length and proportion, but it has limits worth knowing about.
- Colour. The resin comes in a limited range of shades and is more opaque than porcelain. The final shade is chosen separately, and porcelain looks more natural and lifelike.
- Thickness. Because the resin sits on top of unprepared teeth, it can feel slightly bulkier than the finished veneers, particularly if a tooth is already a little forward.
- Eating. It isn't designed for chewing, and it can chip or stain if you eat or drink coloured drinks while wearing it.
- Crowding. If teeth are noticeably crooked, a mock-up over them may look fuller than the final result would, and I'll explain how to read it.
Think of it as an accurate model of the design, not a sample of the finished porcelain.
Who Is a Trial Smile Useful For?
A trial smile is most valuable when the change is large enough that you'd struggle to picture it, or when several teeth are involved. That usually means:
- six or more porcelain veneers, or a smile makeover combining treatments
- changing the length of the front teeth, which affects speech and how much tooth shows
- closing several gaps at once
- anyone who is unsure how much change they want
It's less necessary for a small repair, such as bonding one chipped edge, where the change is easy to imagine and simple to adjust later. I'll tell you honestly whether it would add anything in your case.
What Does a Trial Smile Cost in Edinburgh?
At our practice, a trial smile is from £250, and the smile design it is built from is from £250. Porcelain veneers themselves are from £800 per tooth. The exact fees depend on how many teeth are involved and whether more than one trial smile is needed.
Fees are guide prices, and everything is confirmed in a written treatment plan before treatment starts, so you know the full cost of each stage in advance. If you're a member of our dental plan, we can tell you which parts of a cosmetic plan your membership saving applies to.
Many of our cosmetic patients come from around Edinburgh, including Stockbridge, Inverleith and the New Town, and the first step is always the same: a conversation about what you'd like to change.
Questions
This guide is general information, not a diagnosis. A dentist needs to examine you to say what is right for your teeth.