How the Smile Test Drive Process Works

The Smile Test Drive lets you see — and physically wear — a custom preview of your new smile before any dental work begins. Using 3D facial mapping and the Digital Smile Design (DSD) methodology, your proposed result is designed digitally, then brought to life as a temporary, removable mock-up that sits over your existing teeth. Nothing is drilled. Nothing is permanently altered. You simply try it on, live with it, and decide.

For patients in Perth’s northern suburbs who are seriously considering a smile transformation, this process removes the single greatest barrier to moving forward: not knowing what you’ll look like on the other side.

Why Seeing Is Different From Imagining

There’s a meaningful difference between being shown a computer rendering of your proposed smile and actually wearing it.

A 2D digital simulation on a screen is a useful starting point, but it asks you to do a lot of imaginative work — to mentally place that image onto your face, in your lighting, with your expressions. Most patients find it difficult to make a confident decision from a flat image alone.

Wearing a physical, 3D-printed motivational mock-up is a different experience entirely. You can speak with it in place. You can see how it looks in natural light, in a mirror, in a photo. You can feel the proportions. Patients consistently report that this moment — seeing their proposed smile in a real-world context — is when uncertainty resolves into clarity.

This is why the comprehensive Digital Smile Design process at Connolly Dental is built around a physical preview, not just a digital one.

How the Smile Test Drive Works, Step by Step

The process unfolds across a structured consultation. Here’s exactly what to expect.

Step 1: 3D Facial Mapping and Video Capture

The consultation begins with a full 3D video capture of your face — your proportions, your lip line, your natural expressions, and the way your smile moves when you speak and laugh. This isn’t a static photograph. The DSD methodology captures your face as it functions in real life, because a well-designed smile needs to look natural in motion, not just in a posed shot.

At the same time, a digital intraoral scan maps your teeth in precise three-dimensional detail. This replaces the traditional impression process — no trays, no setting material, no waiting.

Step 2: Digital Smile Design

Using the facial and dental mapping data, Dr. Lily Taheri — WA’s first Digital Smile Design Master — constructs a digital treatment simulation tailored specifically to your facial structure, your aesthetic goals, and your clinical needs. Proportions, tooth length, shade, and symmetry are all calibrated to your individual features, not to a generic template.

This is the stage where your input matters most. The design is refined based on what you want to see, and the conversation is collaborative throughout.

Step 3: The 3D-Printed Mock-Up

Once the digital design is approved, a physical mock-up is fabricated using the DSD specifications. This temporary preview is placed directly over your existing teeth — no adhesives that affect your natural teeth, no irreversible changes. It’s designed to be worn, assessed, and removed.

Step 4: You Wear Your New Smile

This is the Smile Test Drive itself. With the mock-up in place, you can see your proposed result in a mirror, take photos, and genuinely assess how the design feels and looks in context. Some patients bring a trusted friend or partner to this appointment. Others take photos to review at home.

Step 5: Feedback and Refinement

If you want adjustments — to the length, the shape, the shade — this is the moment to request them. The mock-up is removed, the design is refined, and the process continues until the result genuinely reflects what you had in mind. No permanent work proceeds until you are satisfied with what you see.

Old Moulds vs. 3D Digital Scanning — What’s Actually Changed

Traditional cosmetic consultations relied on physical dental impressions: a tray filled with a setting material pressed over your teeth to create a plaster cast. While functional, this process provided limited information about how a proposed smile would interact with your facial proportions, your lip movement, or your overall aesthetic.

Digital intraoral scanning captures a complete, dimensionally accurate model of your teeth in minutes. Combined with the 3D facial video capture used in the DSD methodology, the result is a design process that accounts for your whole face — not just your teeth in isolation. The precision available through digital scanning also means the physical mock-up produced from that data fits more accurately and provides a more realistic preview of your final result.

Does the Smile Test Drive Involve Any Drilling or Changes to My Teeth?

No. At the Smile Test Drive stage, nothing about your natural teeth is permanently altered. The 3D facial mapping and intraoral scanning are non-invasive. The mock-up sits over your existing teeth and is fully removable. No drilling, no injections, and no irreversible changes take place during this consultation.

Any permanent treatment — such as porcelain veneers or dental implants — only proceeds after you have reviewed and approved the design, and after a thorough clinical assessment confirms it is appropriate for your specific circumstances.

What Happens If You Don’t Like What You See?

The mock-up is removed, and the design is adjusted. That’s the point of the process.

If the proportions feel too prominent, if the shade isn’t quite right, or if something about the result doesn’t reflect your vision, those concerns are addressed before any treatment planning is finalised. You are never asked to commit to a result you haven’t seen and approved. The Smile Test Drive exists precisely to give you that control.

For patients who have had previous experiences where dental outcomes didn’t match expectations, this stage is often the moment that changes their relationship with the process. Seeing — and approving — your result before treatment begins is a fundamentally different experience from trusting an outcome you can’t yet visualise.

Is the Smile Test Drive Only for Veneers, or Does It Work for Complex Cases?

The Digital Smile Design (DSD) methodology can be applied across a range of treatment types, not only porcelain veneers. Patients exploring full-arch restorations, dental implants, or combined cosmetic and restorative work may also benefit from a digital preview of their proposed outcome, depending on their individual clinical circumstances.

Whether the Smile Test Drive is appropriate for your specific case — and what it would involve — is determined during your initial consultation and clinical assessment. Every recommendation at Connolly Dental follows a thorough, individualised treatment approach based on your dental health, your facial structure, and your treatment objectives.

What to Do Next

If you’ve been considering a smile transformation but haven’t been able to picture yourself going through with it, the Smile Test Drive is designed for exactly that moment.

Connolly Dental is located at Shop 4/1 Glenelg Pl, Connolly, WA 6027 — conveniently situated in Perth’s northern suburbs, serving families and individuals across Connolly, Joondalup, Clarkson, Currambine, Burns Beach, and Kinross.

To begin, schedule your initial 3D facial mapping with Dr. Lily Taheri. The consultation is the first step — and it’s also the step where you get to see what’s possible before you decide anything at all.

Connolly Dental | Shop 4/1 Glenelg Pl, Connolly WA 6027 | +61 8 9515 8907