Does digital smile design cost extra?

No, it's part of the data already gathered during your free consult exam and 3D scan, so there's no separate fee just to see a design preview.

Can I ask for changes to the proposed design?

Yes, that's the point of previewing it. If something looks off to you, whether it's tooth length, shape, or symmetry, that's exactly the feedback to bring up before treatment starts.

Digital Smile Design: Preview Results

Q: Will my final smile look exactly like the digital preview?

It should be very close, but porcelain has natural variation and the final result depends on precise fabrication and placement. Think of the preview as a strong guide rather than a pixel-perfect guarantee.

digital smile design: see your results before you commit

By Dr. Aakash Rana, DDS · Updated September 2026 · 4 min read

Short answer: Digital smile design uses photos, measurements, and a 3D scan of your teeth to preview a proposed result before any tooth is touched. It won't be pixel-perfect to the final outcome, but it turns a vague idea of "a better smile" into something specific you can react to and adjust.

One of the harder parts of cosmetic dentistry has always been trying to picture the result ahead of time, before committing to any actual treatment on your own teeth. Digital smile design closes most of that gap by mapping out a proposed smile on your own face and teeth before treatment starts, so you're not deciding based on someone else's before-and-after photos. It turns a vague conversation about looking better into a specific, visual plan you can react to.

What Digital Smile Design Actually Involves

The process starts with a series of photos and measurements of your face, lips, and teeth, taken from a few different angles, along with a 3D scan of your mouth captured during your exam. That data gets used to map out proportions — tooth width, length, symmetry, and how much shows when you smile naturally — and build a proposed design based on your own anatomy rather than a generic template pulled from a catalog. It's a planning tool, not a rendering trick, which is why it draws on the same scan used for treatment planning in general. The proportions used come from established guidelines dentists use to judge what looks balanced on a given face, rather than a single fixed template applied to everyone the same way. Your lip line, the width of your smile, and even how your face is shaped all factor into what looks proportionate for you specifically, rather than what would look proportionate on someone else's face.

Why a Preview Changes the Conversation

Without a visual reference, a consult conversation about veneers or a full smile makeover relies on vague phrases like a bit longer or more even, and those words mean genuinely different things to different people sitting in the same chair. Seeing a proposed design lets you say specifically what you like and what you'd change — maybe the teeth look too uniform, or you want to keep a bit of natural variation. That back-and-forth happens before any tooth is prepped, which is exactly when it's most useful. It also helps set realistic expectations early, so there are no surprises partway through treatment about what the end result is actually going to look like. Some patients come in picturing a dramatically different smile than what actually suits their face, and a preview is a far easier way to have that conversation than discovering it after treatment.

What It Can and Can't Predict

A digital design is best understood as a strong guide, not a guarantee down to the pixel. Porcelain has natural variation in how it takes light, and the final in-mouth result depends on precise fabrication and placement, which is one reason Prana's in-house lab is useful here — adjustments can happen without waiting on an outside lab. Think of the design as a very informed preview that gets you and your dentist aligned on the goal, not a locked-in final image. It's also a two-way conversation at that point — if something in the design doesn't match what's realistic for your specific teeth, that gets addressed before treatment rather than after.

How This Fits Into Your Free Consult

The free first-visit consult (a $700 value) already includes an exam, X-rays, and a 3D scan, which is the same data digital smile design builds on. That means there's no separate appointment or extra cost just to see a preview — it's part of the same visit where we're already assessing your teeth and gums for candidacy. You leave that visit with both a clinical picture of your mouth and a visual sense of where treatment could take your smile, which is a more complete starting point than either one alone.

Getting Started

If you've been picturing a different smile for a while but haven't been able to put it into words, this is the fastest way to put a specific, visual shape to that idea instead of trying to describe it out loud. Book a free consult or reach out via online booking to get your scan done and see a proposed design based on your own teeth. Bringing a photo of a smile you like, or simply a mental list of what bothers you about your own, is a useful starting point for that conversation, though it's genuinely not required to get value out of the visit.