Diagnostic Wax-Ups

A wax-up is the design approved before any preparation

In multi-unit esthetic cases, the key question is not “is the restoration beautiful” but “is it what the patient agreed to”. A wax-up, in wax or digital, is the visual agreement between dentist, patient and lab. You use the wax-up model to make an intraoral mock-up; once the patient has seen and approved the shape, length and smile line, our job is to reproduce that design faithfully.

A wax-up is most useful for multiple anterior veneers or crowns, changes in tooth length or proportion, bite raising or vertical dimension changes, and prosthetically driven implant placement (a virtual wax-up is used when planning a surgical guide).

How the wax-up is used later

In our lab, the approved wax-up is scanned and becomes the reference for the whole final design. Veneers or crowns are designed from the wax-up template, adjusting only minimum thickness and margins to the actual preparations, and the design file is superimposed on the wax-up file to check deviation before milling. Quality control then comes down to comparing the restoration with the wax-up, and chair time drops because the shape was approved in advance.

We do not change an approved wax-up on our own. If it needs adjusting, please be specific, for example “keep the shape, shorten the incisal edges by 0.5 mm”. Preparing through the mock-up also keeps restoration thickness even, instead of compensating by making the restoration thicker.

What to send us

• Scans of both arches (STL, PLY or DCM) and the bite, or models and a bite registration.
• Facial, smile and intraoral photos so we can set the midline, smile line and tooth length.
• A description of the change you want: which teeth, length, shape, and whether the bite is raised.
• After the mock-up try-in: photos of the mock-up in the mouth and adjustment notes, so we update the wax-up before making the restorations.

Turnaround

Diagnostic wax-ups are scheduled case by case, depending on the number of units and the extent of the change. For multi-unit veneer cases, please send the approved wax-up together with the post-preparation scan so the restorations follow the design.

Cases from our lab

• Ten Amber Mill veneers in 1M1–1M2 following the approved wax-up
• Why a restoration must follow the approved wax-up
• Full-mouth rehabilitation combining veneers, onlays, crowns and implants

To discuss a specific case, contact our team or start through the ordering process.

Written for dentists and technicians. Khai Nguyen Dental Lab works to clinical prescription only and does not sell directly to patients.