How does smile design for dental implants work? Smile design is the group of medical procedures used to improve the patient’s dental aesthetics. Its main goal is to obtain a natural result by considering facial features and creating the smile’s most authentic shape.
That means dental implants do not equal having beautiful teeth; they have to aesthetically and functionally fit the patient’s face. For this, various factors such as size, shape, position, and color of the teeth must be considered.
These procedures are achieved through different treatments, from simple dental whitening to the design of a dental prosthesis or implants.
Smile Design for Implant Treatments

Smile design is essential in dental implantology, especially in the prosthetic phase of the treatment. The methods to carry out the smile design will depend on the dental implant procedure carried out.
- Replacement of a dental piece.
- Treatment of the complete maxilla.
- Treatment of both jaws.
Smile Design to Replace a Dental Piece
Replacing a dental piece in implantology is the easiest situation since the dentist has the reference of adjacent and opposite teeth. This way, the size, shape, and color are determined based on the patient’s natural teeth.
Full Jaw Smile Design
In this case, the dentist’s work becomes more complicated. If the patient comes with a removable prosthesis, the dentist and the laboratory that manufactures the prosthesis take the opposing teeth as reference.
For example, if the upper jaw is to be replaced, the opposing teeth correspond to the lower jaw. Thus, the teeth’ size, shape, and color are determined by similarity.
Suppose teeth that cannot be recovered will be extracted to place immediate implants. In that case, these teeth, even if damaged, can also serve as a guide.
Smile design in complete implant treatments in both jaws
This situation requires further study by the dentist since there is no reference to natural teeth.
However, there are currently adequate protocols to successfully resolve these situations.
If you are interested in this procedure, call us! At Preva Implant Center, we can offer you personalized dental implant consultation to determine the best way to design your new smile.
We have plenty of options available, such as All On 4 and All On 6 dental implants. Please book an appointment and take the first step to improving your quality of life!