Digital smile design in Turkey: planning your teeth around your face

Digital smile design in Turkey is how we avoid guessing. When a patient comes to our Turkish dental clinic in Antalya for crowns, veneers or implant teeth, the first step on day one is not drilling. It is photographs, a 3D scan and a design session on screen, where you see how your new teeth would look in your face and say what you like and what you do not. Only once you have approved the design does treatment start.

What digital smile design actually is

It is a planning method. Facial photographs, a digital scan of your teeth and, where needed, a 3D CBCT scan of the jaw are brought together in design software. The dentist then draws the new teeth onto your own face: their length, width, the line of the edges and how much tooth shows when you smile and speak.

The point is to plan from the outside in. Instead of starting with a tooth and asking what shape it could be, we start with your lips, your facial midline and your age, and ask what would suit you. The same digital files later guide the lab when crowns and veneers are milled, and guide implant placement in implant cases.

What we record, and how

1. Photos from home. A few clear smile photos and an X-ray, sent by WhatsApp or the form, let a dentist prepare a preliminary written plan and price.
2. Facial photos at the clinic. On day one we take a set of standard photos: face at rest, smiling, side views and close-ups of the teeth.
3. Intraoral scan. A small wand records your teeth in 3D in a few minutes. There are no impression trays, which many people find easier.
4. Design. The dentist designs the tooth shapes and proportions around your lips and midline, and talks you through the options.
5. Preview. The plan is shown to you on a monitor, or tried in as a temporary resin smile over your own teeth, and you ask for changes.
6. Approval. Once you are happy, the design is fixed and sent with your scans to the lab.

None of this needs anaesthetic, and you are back at your hotel the same day.

Who does the design

Your smile is designed by our dentists together with you. Dt. Şeyda Yılmaz works in aesthetic dentistry, including digital smile design, zirconia and full-ceramic crowns and implant prosthetics. Dt. Hüseyin Bayram works on veneers, crowns and smile makeovers and prefers to keep natural tooth wherever he can. You can read about the team on our dentists page.

Avoiding the over-white "Turkish teeth" look

Most people in the UK know the look the phrase "Turkish teeth" has come to mean: teeth that are too white, too square, too even and too large for the face. That rarely comes from the material. It usually comes from a design nobody planned, or a shade chosen in a hurry.

A design session puts the brakes on that. A few things we look at closely:

• Shade against skin and eyes. We hold shade samples next to your face. The brightest shades on the chart often look artificial on a 60-year-old face.
• Length and edge line. Natural front teeth follow the curve of the lower lip. Flat, straight edges look false.
• Width and spacing. Real teeth vary slightly from one to the next. Identical blocks are a giveaway.
• Gum line. The design checks how the teeth meet the gum, because a perfect tooth on an uneven gum still looks wrong.
• How much to cover. Sometimes the design shows that only the front six or eight teeth need work, not a full set.

You can still choose a bright shade. We will simply show you what it looks like on you first and give our honest view. For more on what people mean by the phrase, see Turkish teeth.

What it can show, and what it cannot

A trial smile gets closer, because you can feel the shape and hear yourself talk. Even so, it is made of temporary resin, not the final material. Treat the preview as a careful plan, not a photograph of the finished result.

Digital planning for implant teeth

In implant cases the design does a second job. The planned teeth tell us where each implant needs to sit so that the new tooth comes out of the gum in the right place. The 3D CBCT scan then shows whether there is bone there, and how close the lower jaw nerve and, at the top, the sinus lie. When the two are combined, the dentist can place the implants to suit the teeth, rather than fitting the teeth to wherever the implants happened to go.

For full-arch work this matters a great deal. The design sets the length of the new teeth, how full the lip looks and where the bite sits, and it is agreed before surgery. Your written plan names the number of implants, the brand and the reason for each choice. See full mouth implants for how the two trips work.

Who it is for, and who it is not for

It is useful for anyone having veneers, crowns, a smile makeover or implant teeth, especially at the front. It matters most for full-arch and full-mouth cases, where every tooth is new and there is no natural tooth to copy.

It adds little for a single back crown or a filling. And it is not a way to try on a new smile without treatment: the design is made for a planned treatment, and changing your mind after approval can mean delays and remade work. If you are unsure whether you want crowns or veneers at all, read veneers and E-max crowns first, and ask us questions before you travel.

Price and the trip

Digital smile design is included in our cosmetic and implant treatment plans, and your written plan shows that. You pay for the teeth that are made: E-max laminate veneers are £300 per tooth, E-max crowns £225 and zirconia crowns £150. A crown or veneer trip is usually 5 hotel nights, with the design done on day one. Implant trips are 4 nights on the first visit and 5 on the second. Transfers are included; flights are not.

The guarantee applies to the work itself: crowns 5 years, laminate veneers 3 years and smile makeovers 5 years, with conditions in the written terms. See the full prices page.