Mock-up
Have you ever tried on a pair of clothes and weren’t quite sure about the style or size? You may have similar doubts about the design of your smile. To make you 100% sure, Tetri’s Smile offers a unique technology to try on your future smile – Mock-up.
You will not just see your future smile in a picture or on a monitor as you would at other clinics. You will be able to try on and see the shape of your new teeth, touch and feel them, and look at them in the mirror. Evaluate the shape of your lips and face with your new teeth. You will be able to speak and check your diction. All of this will be available before the actual treatment of your natural teeth.
Mock-up: What is it?
This is a multi-step procedure to create a prototype of future restorations to be placed in the oral cavity. It requires two clinic visits. It helps to not only visualize the future smile but also to try it on before restoring four or more teeth.
With a Mock-up, your expectations of a dental restoration with veneers or crowns will be exactly the same as the result!
Stages of Mock-up creation
What if we said we could download your data to a computer for further study? We use a special program and several types of equipment to do this. This type of examination is the most detailed. It combines the use of:
- A digital arch (to determine the position of the upper jaw)
- An intraoral scanner (to digitalize the upper and lower teeth)
- Axiography (to analyze the temporomandibular joint trajectory and determine the deviation from the norm).
We upload all the data into a model, perform the necessary calculations, and do research with the use of a computer program. We then transfer the finished model to the Exocad and begin to create a “Rolls Royce” – a Hollywood smile with a perfect bite. At the same time, we already have the correct position of the jaw, and take into account all the principles of neuromuscular dentistry. We then create a mock-up of the future restoration so you could try it on.
Based on a digital 3D model of the patient’s jaw, we print a 3D model on a printer. A silicone impression is taken from the printed model. Then it is filled with a liquid, fast-setting polymer mass. The patient clenches the key with their teeth and holds it for a few minutes until the polymer hardens. After the key is removed, the mock-up, a prototype of the future teeth, remains on the teeth.
There is no need to prepare or resurface the teeth prior to fitting the mock-up!
We discuss with the patient whether they like the way the new teeth look, whether they are comfortable with them, and whether any adjustments are needed. The patient is able to evaluate, comment on and approve the final shape of the new smile before the teeth are restored. If mock-up adjustments are needed, they are made during the same visit.
If the treatment plan includes surgery, everything is done in the same visit: extraction of inoperable teeth, gum treatment, bone grafting or sinus lift, placement of implants, and placement of temporary veneers/crowns.