Most patients open with a single sentence: “I am not happy with my teeth.” What often emerges at examination, though, is that the teeth are not the whole problem. A smile is not made of teeth alone; lip volume, how far the lip lifts when you smile, how much gum shows and the depth of the nasolabial fold all belong to the same picture.
Why teeth alone are not enough
Take a patient whose upper incisors have worn short and whose lip volume has reduced. Lengthening the teeth alone will not rescue the result: the teeth grow, but with a thin lip the smile window still reads as unbalanced. The reverse holds too — adding lip volume without correcting worn tooth form makes the filler look more obvious than it is.
So in aesthetic cases both our clinicians assess together. Han Demirci evaluates the dental side, Eliz Mağracı the facial side, and the plan comes out as one document. The order of treatment is part of that plan.
Sequence matters
The general rule is teeth first, lips second. Adding lip volume before the new tooth form is settled can leave the proportions off later. In digital smile design, tooth length and width are established first and the lip frame is then planned around that form.
The one exception is where existing lip volume is very low. It is hard to predict the final lip position while designing the smile, so a measured amount of lip support goes in first and the teeth are designed two weeks later.
What “natural” means
A natural result does not mean looking as though nothing was done; it means looking consistent with the rest of the face. In practice that comes down to three things: slight asymmetry in the teeth is preserved, incisal edge texture is not flattened, and the upper-to-lower lip ratio is not disturbed.
Above all, the try-in stage is never skipped. Before anything permanent begins, the design is applied in temporary material in your own mouth. If something bothers you it is changed then — no tooth has been touched yet.
For patients who want combined planning, the first consultation is free. Photographs and a digital scan are taken at the same visit, and the design is ready within a few days.
