If you’ve been considering smile design, chances are you’ve already spent plenty of time in front of the mirror, pulling your cheeks back, tilting your head, and trying to picture what a different smile would look like.
Maybe you’ve caught yourself staring at that one crooked tooth, wondering how it would look if it were straight, or scrolling through Instagram saving photos of celebrity veneers, wondering if they’d look amazing on you, too.
You might assume that with cosmetic dentistry, you have to commit to a new look without being certain you’ll like it. Not because you’re unsure about the results you want, but because you’re worried about spending all that time and money and still being left dissatisfied.
With Digital Smile Design, you don’t have to imagine anymore. No more asking yourself, “What if my teeth look too big?” “What if they look too white?” Before any treatment begins, you can see exactly what your new smile will look like.
Before You Commit to Veneers
If you’ve looked into veneers seriously, you already know the basics. The different types of veneers, the prep process, and the investment involved. What most people are still working through is the gap between knowing that they want veneers and being able to picture what they’ll look like on their specific face.
DSD technology closes that gap before any treatment begins.
Planning Your Veneers With Digital Smile Design
Digital Smile Design uses high-resolution photography, video, and digital scans to design your new smile on your actual face, accounting for how your teeth look when you’re speaking and laughing, not just how they appear in a static image.
For veneers, the design is built around your facial features, proportions, and natural movement before any preparation of your teeth takes place. Your dentist and the dental lab are working from a precise, personalized blueprint. The end result is veneers designed for your face.
The Smile Trial: See It Before You Commit
Before any preparation begins, we create a temporary preview of your new smile directly on your teeth. You sit up in the chair, look in the mirror, and see your proposed veneers on your actual face.
You can speak, smile, and take a selfie. You can notice whether the length feels right, whether the shape suits your jawline, or whether the proportions feel like you. If something feels off, like a canine that looks too sharp or a front tooth that feels too dominant, we adjust it on the spot.
Most patients find this appointment clarifying in a way that digital previews alone can’t replicate. Seeing the result on your face, in real light, is a different experience from looking at a screen.
When you’re satisfied with the design, that approved plan goes directly to the dental lab as the blueprint for your veneers.
Veneers That Work as Well as They Look
Veneers are often thought of as a cosmetic treatment, and the aesthetic motivation is completely valid. But how your teeth are positioned and proportioned also affects how they function, including how you bite, how your jaw moves, and how your teeth wear over time.
When veneers are planned with Digital Smile Design, your bite is considered alongside the aesthetics from the start. Teeth that are properly aligned and proportioned distribute pressure more evenly, which means less chipping, less wear, and a result that holds up better over the long term.
For our patients, this means the veneers you see in your smile trial are designed to look right, and they’re engineered to function correctly for your bite. That’s a meaningful difference between a result that lasts a decade and one that needs attention sooner.
Digital Smile Design at Somerset Dental on James
We begin the planning process before any treatment takes place. Using high-resolution photos, video, and digital scans, we capture how your face moves naturally—how you speak, smile, and look at rest—not just how your teeth appear in a static image.
From there, our team uses the 3D Facial Design framework to plan your veneers around four key elements:
- Your face
- Your lips
- Your teeth
- Your gums
Each one contributes to how your smile looks and feels in motion.
You’ll see the proposed design on your actual face during the Smile Trial, with the chance to evaluate it from every angle, ask questions, and request adjustments before anything is finalized. Nothing moves forward until you’re confident in what you see. Once you approve the design, it becomes the blueprint we work from.
Somerset Dental on James is a DSD Certified Clinic, one of a select number of practices in Calgary trained and certified to offer this level of smile planning.
See Your Smile Before You Commit
If you’ve been thinking about veneers and want to see what’s possible for your face specifically, a consultation at Somerset Dental on James is a good place to start. We’ll walk you through the process, answer your questions, and show you what Digital Smile Design can do.
Request an appointment online or call us at 587-847-0662.
