By Dr. Gregg Barry · Published 12 June 2026
Here’s something we say a lot at Docklands Dental: we never just start adding material to teeth and hope it looks right. Every smile we change — whether it’s one chipped front tooth or a full set of veneers — starts on a screen, not in the chair. That’s Digital Smile Design, and honestly it’s one of our favourite parts of the job (the bit where you get to see the result before anything is irreversible). Look, we know “design your smile on a computer” can sound a little gimmicky. It isn’t. Here’s how it actually works, what it costs, and why we think it’s one of the most important things we do.
What is Digital Smile Design, and how does it work?
Digital Smile Design is a planning process where we map your new smile onto photos and video of your own face here in Dublin — proportions, tooth shape, symmetry, the way your lip moves — before a single tooth is touched.
The idea is simple, even if the work behind it isn’t. We take a set of standardised photographs and a short video of you talking and smiling, plus digital scans of your teeth. Then we design your new smile against your face — not a generic template — measuring things like how much tooth shows when you smile, where the midline sits, and how the edges of your front teeth should follow the curve of your lower lip. It usually happens across one or two planning appointments, well before any drilling, bonding or prep begins. The point is that your smile gets designed deliberately, with measurements, rather than improvised at the chair.
Why do we plan your smile before touching a single tooth?
Planning first is the difference between a smile that fits your face and one that just looks like “teeth” — and it’s why we’ll happily spend an hour or more designing in Dublin before any irreversible work starts.
Think about it. Front teeth are millimetre work. A central incisor that’s half a millimetre too long, or a midline that’s shifted slightly to one side, reads as “off” even if the person looking can’t say why. When we plan digitally, we get to make those decisions with measurements and a second opinion, calmly, instead of holding a handpiece and eyeballing it. It also means you’re involved. We can show you the proposed shape and say “do you want these a touch more rounded, or squarer?” — and you get a say before, not after. It’s your smile, and you should love the plan before we start. That’s not a slogan; it genuinely changes the outcome.
Can you really see your new smile before treatment starts?
Yes — Digital Smile Design lets you preview your new smile as a digital mock-up, and very often as a physical “trial smile” worn in your own mouth, all before we remove even 0.3mm of enamel in Dublin.
This is the part patients are usually surprised by. From the digital plan, we can make a template and place tooth-coloured material straight onto your teeth — no drilling, nothing permanent — so you can see and feel the proposed shape in the mirror. We call it a trial smile (you might hear “mock-up” or “test drive”). You can check how it looks when you talk, send a photo to someone whose opinion you trust, sleep on it. If something isn’t right, we change it on the plan — which is a very cheap place to make changes. Once it’s on porcelain, it’s a lot less cheap. That preview is the whole reason we love this approach: nobody should be committing to a new smile based on a promise.
Does Digital Smile Design work for veneers, bonding and implants?
It works across the board — we use Digital Smile Design to plan porcelain veneers, composite bonding, and the cosmetic restorations on top of dental implants in Dublin.
For veneers, the design tells us exactly how much (or how little) tooth we need to prepare — and with feldspathic porcelain, careful planning is often what lets us stay incredibly conservative. For composite bonding, the plan guides where we build up and where we leave well alone (bonding is non-invasive — it requires no removal of healthy tooth structure — but it still needs to be designed, not guessed). And for bigger cases — say a full smile makeover combining implants and veneers — the design becomes the shared blueprint everyone works from, including any specialist colleagues involved. If you’re weighing up how many teeth to treat, our guide to how many veneers you actually need pairs neatly with this — the design usually answers that question for you.
How much does Digital Smile Design cost in Dublin?
Digital Smile Design at Docklands Dental in Dublin is €350 — a standalone planning fee for the design work and the preview, not a deposit and not a sales pitch dressed up as a consultation.
We’re upfront about this because we’d rather you understood what you’re paying for. The €350 buys real work: the photography, the digital design, the measurements, and the trial smile where it applies. It’s separate from the treatment itself — feldspathic veneers are €1,200 per tooth (so €7,200 for six), composite veneers at €450 per tooth — and you can see the full picture in our guide to cosmetic dentistry costs in Dublin. We don’t do a free “consultation” that’s really a sales meeting, and we don’t discount the planning, because the planning is the craft. Honestly, paying for a proper design and a preview before you commit thousands to veneers is one of the smarter things you can do.
Does better planning actually make your smile last longer?
It does, indirectly — a well-planned veneer is one that conserves enamel and bonds to it, and porcelain veneers bonded to enamel can survive above 90% at both 15 and 20 years.
The research backs the principle up. A systematic review in the European Journal of Dentistry found that porcelain veneers bonded to enamel achieved survival rates over 90% at 15 and 20 years — and the key phrase there is “bonded to enamel.” The more enamel you preserve, the better the bond and the longer things tend to last, and conserving enamel is precisely what good design lets us do. We see the same logic with bonding: a systematic review in the Journal of Conservative Dentistry looking at more than 75,000 composite restorations found they perform well over many years, with fracture (not decay) being the usual reason for eventual repair. The takeaway, in our experience? The thinking you do before you pick up an instrument is what protects the result for years afterward.
How long does the Digital Smile Design process take?
From first photos to a finished plan you can preview, Digital Smile Design typically takes one to two appointments over a couple of weeks in Dublin — quick relative to the treatment it guides.
The first visit is records: photos, video, scans, and a proper conversation about what’s bothering you and what you want. We then do the design work behind the scenes. Your second visit is usually the reveal — the digital mock-up and, where it suits the case, the trial smile in your mouth. If you’re combining treatments — for example Invisalign before veneers — the design also helps us get the sequence right, which matters more than people realise. No pressure at any stage. It’s a plan, not a contract, and you’re free to take your time with it.
Come and see your smile before you commit to it
If you’ve been thinking about veneers, bonding or a fuller smile makeover, Digital Smile Design is the sensible first step — you get to see it before you decide. No pressure, no hard sell, just a proper conversation and a plan you can actually look at.
We’d love to help you design yours.
Docklands Dental
1 Forbes Street, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2, D02 FN53
Phone: 01 636 0192
Email: hello@docklandsdental.ie
Web: docklandsdental.ie
Curious what Digital Smile Design would show for you? You can book a cosmetic consultation online — thirty minutes with one of our dentists to look at your teeth and talk through the options and what they would cost (€80, as listed on our price list).
Frequently asked questions
What is Digital Smile Design?
Digital Smile Design is a planning process where we map your new smile onto photographs and video of your own face — measuring tooth shape, proportions, symmetry and the way your lip moves — before any tooth is touched. It usually takes one to two appointments and lets you preview the result before any irreversible treatment begins.
Does Digital Smile Design work for composite bonding as well as veneers?
Yes. We use Digital Smile Design to plan porcelain veneers, composite bonding and the cosmetic restorations placed on dental implants. For bonding it guides where we build up and where we leave teeth alone; for veneers it tells us exactly how little tooth we need to prepare.
