Test drive your smile with a Dental Mock-Up, before you decide.

If you have discoloured, badly shaped or worn-down teeth, perhaps you've considered fixing them. But how can you visualize what the makeover will look like before you decide? The answer is a'Dental Mock-Up', which builds temporary tooth surfaces that have the same 'look and feel' as permanent dental restorations.



Like building a house

To understand about Mock-ups, let's start with the analogy of building a house. An architect's 3-D model will give you far deeper insight into what you're buying than a 2-D plan. So too with cosmetic dentistry. The Dental Mock-Up allows the dentist to build new temporary surfaces on your existing teeth, for a personal evaluation period that can last several weeks or more. The procedure is totally reversible.



Nothing is as real as this

There are several ways to preview your new smile. You can look at photos of similar cases, examine a dental model, or see a computer image of your smile with new teeth superimposed. But nothing matches the reality of a Dental Mock-Up. The mock-up technique uses composite (a tooth coloured material), which is lightly and temporarily attached to the surface of your existing teeth. It lets you 'test drive' your smile, checking how you feel about it and what others have to say.



When is this procedure recommended?

We propose it in cases when a significant change is anticipated:

- Broadening your smile and even enlarging or lengthening your teeth
- Restoring your teeth to their natural size and shape after exces sive wear or tooth grinding. You will see an immediate rejuvenating
effect
- Correcting crooked or gappy teeth, without waiting months to see the effect of braces (orthodontics). Perhaps visualizing an alternative to braces
- Considering a full month reconstruction, where the bite may need to be 'opened'



What does a Dental Mock-Up involve?

Quick to build, easy to modify
The teeth being 'mocked up' are the ones that are candidates for porcelain veneering or crowning. These teeth are temporarily bonded with a tooth-coloured composite material. This is a soft putty-like substance, hardened with a special light, shaped and then polished until it looks like natural tooth enamel. It can be easily modified - reduced or augmented - to achieve an optimal result.

Your new tooth surfaces can be left in place for several weeks, or even a few months, while you evaluate their comfort, aesthetics, looks and feel. We give you 'before' and 'after' photos to help you reach the best decision.
A blueprint for your permanent teeth
If you're satisfied with how you look and feel at the end of the evaluation period, we'll then make an impression (a mould) of the result. This is used as a blueprint for building porcelain veneers.
The composite material is removed and replaced with the much harder, stronger and more durable porcelain material. These permanent teeth will look even better and more natural than the mock- up teeth.

Should you decide not to proceed with treatment, no harm is done.
We will gently remove the composite material without harming the underlying enamel and polish up your natural teeth to their original state.



Summary of benefits