What is a snap-on smile, and when might it make sense as a dental treatment? In this episode of the Smile Reconstruction Podcast, Dr. Tanner Townsend and Dr. Josh Muir discuss snap-on smiles—a removable restoration that fits over existing teeth and may serve as a transitional solution for certain patients. They explain how a snap-on smile can help patients explore a different tooth shape, size, length, and color before moving forward with more extensive treatment. They also share patient stories and discuss the limitations of snap-on smiles, including durability, removability, and restrictions on chewing. For patients who aren't ready for dental implants or extensive restorative treatment, a snap-on smile may provide another option while planning the next step. Learn more about the Smile Reconstruction Podcast: https://www.montanaimplants.com/patient-resources/podcasts/ Meet Dr. Tanner Townsend: https://www.montanaimplants.com/doctor/dr-tanner-townsend/ Meet Dr. Josh Muir: https://www.montanaimplants.com/doctor/dr-josh-muir/ 📍 Montana Center for Implants and Dentures — Billings, MT #SnapOnSmile #DentalImplants #SmileReconstruction #CosmeticDentistry #BillingsMT #DentalPodcast

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 0:05

Welcome to the Smile Reconstruction Podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Tanner Townsend, along with my fabulous co-host, Dr. Joshua Muir.

Dr. Josh Muir — 0:12

Hello.

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 0:12

And today we’ve got a topic I’m kind of excited about: snap-on smiles. So, Dr. Muir, give us a little background. What is a snap-on smile, and what are some of the indications for a snap-on smile?

Dr. Josh Muir — 0:24

Yeah, this is an exciting thing to talk about because it’s something that we don’t hear about very often as a dental solution.

I want you to think of it as a transitional treatment that can, in some cases, be used as a long-term treatment. This is something that allows you to keep your natural teeth, even if they’re broken down, ground down, little nubs, or even if they have decay on them.

Basically, it’s like a snap-on veneer that goes over all of your teeth, even the part that you chew on. It looks, feels, and mostly functions like natural teeth.

And so that leads to: Why would someone do that instead of just fixing their teeth? We’ve talked about this a little bit before, but why would someone do that instead of fixing their teeth?

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 1:25

Like you mentioned, it’s kind of a transitional thing. Sometimes, to fix all your teeth, whether you’re doing crowns and root canals, it’s going to cost $20,000, $30,000, or $40,000.

We may know we’re possibly moving toward some implant treatment, or we are doing those fixes, but we need something in between to hold us over. Whether you have a wedding coming up, a trip, or you just want to see what the smile is going to look like, this is the perfect indication for something like that.

I think there are a lot of instances where someone who’s in that transition period could use that. And you mentioned diabetes, bisphosphonates—I’d even say patients who smoke. I haven’t personally done it on a heavy-smoking patient before, but I think that is something I’m going to try to utilize more often.

Because, hey, in order for the implants to be successful, we need you to cut down on smoking. Let’s put you in this temporary, transitional snap-on smile, and you get to test out the smile. You get to see what you think, and it’s something that can kind of help us along until we get to where we need to be.

Dr. Josh Muir — 2:35

So tell me what you mean by “test out the smile.”

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 2:38

Yeah. A lot of times when we have broken-down teeth, we can do a snap-on smile to see if we like the way the new smile will look.

Dr. Josh Muir — 2:49

The contours or the new width of the teeth—

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 2:52

The length of the teeth—

Dr. Josh Muir — 2:53

The shade, the color of the new teeth.

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 2:55

We could even do the color of the new teeth. So we can try all these things out without necessarily pulling your teeth and see how it looks.

Now, there is an extra cost to doing that step because it’s not necessarily cheap on our end to have that made. But it’s something we can totally do, and there are many cases where we could potentially use it.

Dr. Josh Muir — 3:17

Yeah, and it’s interesting. As we’re looking for a code for that, what it comes out to be is a partial denture code in a lot of cases because you’re replacing some of the teeth.

I had one patient in particular where we had to go through her insurance, and this was a very unique case. This poor junior high/high school student only had about two visible teeth in the front and just a couple of molars in the back. All of these other teeth in between were upside down, and they were wrapped around nerves.

She will likely never have teeth up there. It’s not a question of finances. It’s not a question of whether or not we would like to help her with implants. There are nerves up there. I mean, that infraorbital nerve affects the area under your eye and eyelid. I’m not going to take those teeth out and potentially cause problems for her for the rest of her life.

So what we talked to her about was, “Look, here’s a solution. It’s a temporary solution, but for you, it may be something that needs to be long-term just to get you some teeth.”

She had gone without visible teeth in her smile. They were there, but only little nubs of her two front teeth. From the time she was nine years old until junior high/high school, she had never been able to smile and show her teeth.

So we made this snap-on smile, and it clicked in, and it was absolutely stunning.

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 5:02

It was probably life-changing for that girl.

Dr. Josh Muir — 5:04

Absolutely life-changing. She was a beautiful girl with dark, curly hair, but she was so—

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 5:14

Self-conscious.

Dr. Josh Muir — 5:14

She had pulled away from the social side of school. She had her little safe space, and that was it. This truly changed her.

There are some limitations we should talk about, too. Depending on how many teeth you’re missing, they can be a little bit weak. For her, it was anchored by her two front teeth and her back molars. That’s a huge span of several teeth.

So I told her, “Look, this really isn’t for chewing. If you need to be chewing at school, you need to be very selective about how you’re going to do that, or find a way to eat other types of food. Do smoothies, do protein drinks, something like that during school, and then at night you take it out to eat.”

We were just trying to help her. What ended up happening was she broke it, so we made another one. But you can’t keep doing that. At her age, she had a hard time grasping that this is the solution and that there are limitations. But I think as she gets a little bit older, she’ll be able to understand her responsibility in all of this as well.

So it’s been really cool.

We had another guy fairly recently who needed more teeth and was trying to decide what he was going to do. He had previously had some implants that didn’t work great. He had some teeth that kept going bad. He was missing some on each side and some lower front teeth.

He said, “Guys, I’m going on this cruise. I’m going to be gone for two weeks. I would love to be able to eat something.”

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 7:03

Yeah.

Dr. Josh Muir — 7:03

I said, “Look, we’ve tried all these different ideas with you, and none of them are right. But if you need something now, we could try this.”

We made it for him. It clicked into place. We didn’t adjust anything, and he loved it. For the first time in years and years, he was able to eat pretty much anything he wanted.

Again, there are some limitations on how you chew and stuff, but truly, it’s a life-changing thing. As long as you understand the limitations, it’s fantastic.

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 7:38

Yeah. Once again, I think the biggest limitation is that it’s not glued onto your teeth, so it can come in and out. It’s also weaker because it’s just something that snaps on over the top of your teeth. It’s definitely—

Dr. Josh Muir — 7:52

It’s an acrylic.

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 7:53

It’s an acrylic.

Dr. Josh Muir — 7:53

Yeah.

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 7:54

So it’s not anything permanent, but it does a pretty darn good job, especially for the right case.

Dr. Josh Muir — 8:00

Yeah. I would just say, if you know someone or if you are a person who’s trying to figure out what your best treatment is, consider this. While you’re figuring it out, you can be enjoying a pleasing smile—something that feels good, something that looks good, and something that, in a lot of cases, allows you to chew a lot better.

Then, when you’re ready for your implant treatment or whatever the other treatment is, you’re going to be so much more prepared for it because you already know more about what you want for your tooth shape, size, contour, color, your opening, how tall the teeth should be, and so on.

From our side, it really helps us out when we—

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 8:54

Yeah, it makes it way easier.

Dr. Josh Muir — 8:54

—have that information.

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 8:56

So, I think we’ve touched on a lot of good points here. Do you have anything else that you want to add in particular about a snap-on smile?

Dr. Josh Muir — 9:03

I think this is just one more option that says, guys, if you know you need something, come and visit with us in one of these free consults, or give us a call and let’s discuss some options.

We’re not going to push you into a corner and say you have to do this. But this is something that very few places offer. And it’s Montana Center for Implants and Dentures—it’s not an implant. It’s just something to help you get somewhere that’s better than where you are now.

So the point would be: Come in for a consult, and let’s figure out what we can do to help you have an improved smile and get one step closer.

Dr. Tanner Townsend — 9:51

I love it. Well, that is it for today’s episode of Smile Reconstruction. Give us a call if you’d like to come in for a free consult. We’d love to see you and answer your questions about implants and dentures, or even a snap-on smile.

You can also explore more episodes on our Smile Reconstruction Podcast page.

We will talk to you all in the next episode. Thanks so much.

Dr. Josh Muir

Thank you.