A mock-up, sometimes called a trial smile, is material placed so you can see and speak with a proposed shape before the teeth are prepared. It can be made on a model and transferred to the mouth, or built directly. It is a preview of length, edge position, and lip support. It is not the final ceramic, and it does not have the color, strength, or surface of the restoration that would replace it.
The trial is useful because some requests fail in the mouth even when they succeed on a screen. A longer front tooth can catch the lip in speech. A wider smile can feel crowded to the tongue. The mock-up is where those objections are cheap. If the trial is uncomfortable, the plan changes while the change is still reversible.
A mock-up can also show whether the desired shape requires enamel removal. That is a reason to do it before anyone picks up a bur for an elective case. It does not authorize a full-mouth rehabilitation, and it does not mean every tooth in the photograph needs a restoration. The number of teeth to be treated is a separate decision, written down, not implied by a pleasing edge.
Patients sometimes want the mock-up left in place because they like the day it was made. Temporary material stains, wears, and is not a seal you should live on. The next step is either a decision to proceed to provisionals or ceramic, or a decision to remove the trial and keep the teeth as they were. Both are acceptable outcomes of a test.
