Hybrid program
This course comprises 2 days of hands-on in-person training in Madrid and a 12-class online program available on demand for a practical and theoretical deep dive into smile design.
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Designing Smiles with Christian Coachman
Even with incredible technologies, when it comes to rehabilitating smiles, we still rely immensely on our hand-eye skills. Learn how to translate them into the art of smile design through this course.
Designing Smiles Hands On with Christian Coachman Madrid November 2025DSD Planning Center, Calle de Ochandiano, Madrid, Spain
Nov 14, 2025
- Nov 15, 2025
This course is your solution!
Through hands-on in-person training and online learning, this course teaches everything you need to know to design beautiful smiles and deal with compromised cases.
Hone your artistic smile design skills and practice hand-eye coordination
How technicians can help their dentists to increase case acceptance and improve patient experience
Learn the fundamentals to create natural-looking smile rehabilitations
Master effective collaboration tactics between dentists and technicians
Learn how to integrate smile design with treatment planning effectively
Understand norms and identify discrepancies for improved problem solving
The new role technicians should play in this environment to differentiate themselves
Are you facing these challenges right now?
This course was designed for dental professionals who want to overcome these common obstacles:
❌ Creating natural results
Producing artificial-looking smiles without dentofacial harmony or leveraging optical illusion in compromised cases.
❌ Smile design fundamentals
Not linking clinically feasible smile design with treatment planning. Artistic skills don’t match clinical skills.
❌ Synergy with lab
Communication between clinic and lab or technician is not efficient, impacting productivity and end results.
Master the 5 smile design moments with this course
To become a great modern smile rehabilitator, there are five fundamental moments you need to master in the design smile process.
Beyond just a digital or analog approach, this course teaches you how to master these moments regardless of the tools you use:
Developing the ideal smile (diagnostic and design)
Testing the smile design (patient communication and transferring data)
Adapting the smile design (ideal vs. reality)
Guiding and controlling the clinical execution by design
Dentist-lab synergy when designing and restoring smiles
Propel your success with smile design like so...
Learn
Reserve your seat and join us in-person for a value-packed hands-on two days in Madrid, Spain, as well as attend the theoretical 12-class online program.
Implement
Assimilate the wealth of knowledge, resources and hands-on mastery shared by Christian and understand what is necessary to become a great modern smile rehabilitator.
Advance
Enjoy the results of implementing the proven smile design principles, esthetic know-how and hands-on training in your daily clinical practice.
What dentists and technicians say about the course
... shift anatomy and perception...
“I think any dentist who wants to get a better understanding of how you can shift anatomy and perception without necessarily having to make massive changes, how you're able to blend things and hide things so that they look nice, I think that's the perfect dentist to come to this course. Anybody who just wants an understanding of how to improve these little details and touches that really can make the big difference in a case, that's who this course is geared towards.”
Dr Reynolds LawninTexas, USA
...the artistry of smile design...
“Any dentist that likes the artistry of smile design and likes to communicate well with their lab could highly benefit from this course. There were definitely some things I have learned that I never realized when I'm looking at teeth all day individually. Like, you know, when you're stepping back and looking at the big picture and the smile frame”
Dr Kristen DonohueVirginia, USA
... Designing Smiles course is an absolutely essential ...
“I wish I had this course in the beginning of my career. The Designing Smiles course is an absolutely essential course for somebody who wants to pursue esthetic and cosmetics in dentistry”
Dr Karen BaghdasaryanCalifornia, USA
The course has exceeded my expectations ...
“The course has exceeded my expectations. What I really wanted out of it was the ability to talk to the lab and have better communication with the lab so that I could actually work as their team member to make smiles better. And not only have I now learned some of the language and now know what to look for when building a smile, but I've got some techniques myself so that even if I'm making temporaries or transitionals in the mouth, I'm going to be significantly better at it.”
Dr Mark McCulloughOttowa, Canada
Course director & speaker
DSD Founder, Christian Coachman, is going back to his smile design roots to share with you his 20 years’ experience as a dentist, technician and smile architect.
Before founding Digital Smile Design, Christian traveled the world as a master dental ceramist, working alongside some of the best dentists in the world to design their patients’ smiles.
Through this course, Christian will share everything he has learned over the years as a high-end dental ceramist and digital dental lab owner to help dental professionals improve their smile design skills for better communication between clinician and lab.
Hands on program
By purchasing a ticket to the in-person course in Madrid, you'll also get access to the on-demand program included in the ticket price.
Day 1
Quick view08h30 - 09h30 - Welcome coffee & registration
09h30 - 12h00 - Session 1 - Livestream content recap
12h00 - 13h00 - Lunch
13h00 - 15h30 - Session 2 - Freehand drawing exercise: Activating your artistic side
15h30 - 16h00 - Coffee Break
16h00 - 18h00 - Session 3 - Model exercise 1: Making teeth look longer/narrower and shorter/wider
18h00 - 20h00 - Welcome drinks reception
Day 2
Quick view08h30 - 09h30 - Welcome coffee
09h30 - 12h00 - Session 4 - Model exercise 2: From fake/bulky to natural/delicate
12h00 - 13h00 - Lunch
13h00 - 15h30 - Session 5 - Model exercise 3: Fixing axis and interproximal areas
15h30 - 16h00 - Coffee Break
16h00 - 18h00 - Session 6 - Model exercise 4: Creating space for pink and avoiding the “banana look”
Class 1: The Why
How important is smile design
Smile designer know-how and skills
Is smile design under control?
Class 2: Smile design evolution
- Smile design evolution
- Smile design moments and methods
Class 3: The guidelines I
- The art of smile design
- Orofacial nomenclature
- Dento-gingival
- Dento-gingival parameters
- The papilla factor & pink esthetics
Class 4: The guidelines II
- Dento-gingival
- Occlusion vs. smile design
- Intraoral references for smile design
- Morphopsychology & smile design
Class 5: The guidelines III
- Dento-facial
- Natural head position & facial asymmetries
- Denture & orthognathic influence
- Facial thirds & profile
- The lip factor
- Buccal corridor
- Facial flow
Class 6: Smile design and treatment planning
- Smile design and airway
- From design to planning
- Smile design quality control
- Ten steps of the smile frame
Class 7: Digital natural restoration
- Natural libraries & digital smile donator
- Smile test drive analysis & communication
Class 8: Overcoming compromises with optical illusion
- Real size and shape vs. perceived size and shape
- Closing black triangles
- Improving space distribution and interdental proportions restoratively
- Managing different gingival levels and zenith
- Incisal and interproximal embrasures
Class 9: Overcoming compromises with optical illusion (cont.)
- Managing space distribution by understanding the visible vs. invisible areas
- Managing space distribution by understanding the light reflection lines (LRL)
- Visual comfort vs. discomfort
- Fixing cant/shift
- Buccal corridor and ridge deficiency
Class 10: Extra class - Dentist-lab synergy
- Restorative planning and the new lab role
- DSD Direct
- Guided tooth prep
- Soft tissue copy-paste concept
Tutorial: Using Keynote for smile design and quality control
Tutorial: DSD App smile simulation & case discussion
Tutorial: Step by step smile frame and drawing exercises
Bonus: DSD Lab Reality series with Christian Coachman
- Planning the white and pink interface on an implant bridge with artificial gingiva
- Restoration quality control photo protocol
- Redoing a single restoration of a full arch rehabilitation
- Tips on how to improve the visual analysis of details on anterior restorations
- How to evaluate and design an ideal implant
- Modifying line angles to change width and length perception
- Modifying the tooth line angles for a more natural shape
- Discerning asymmetry through image fragmentation
- Real shape versus perceived shape
- Fixing the illusion of cant
- Design tips for a complex full mouth rehabilitation
- Analyzing the cant, the axis and symmetry of central incisors and how to fix it.
- The archives
- Improving the perception of tooth proportion
- Hiding black triangles
- Gingival outlines and zenith challenges
- Anterior implant bridge limitations
- Tooth width perception and rotation
- Tips on how to improve the harmony of the case - buckle recession
- Artificial pink design
Bonus: Is smile design under control? The real challenges of a smile rehabilitator
BONUS features for course participants
12-Month Mentorship with Christian Coachman
Course participants will join an exclusive mentoring group on WhatsApp for 12 months where they can share cases, ask questions and receive guidance from Christian Coachman.
3 Webinar Sessions
Christian Coachman will host three exclusive webinars for course participants to present clinical cases and share his top smile design techniques.
Frequently Asked Questions
The professionals who will benefit the most from this course are:
Smile Rehabilitators
Lab Technicians
Restorative Dentists
Ceramists
CAD designers
Christian Coachman says: “I believe we are all beginners when it comes to smile design; there is so much room for improvement.”
Christian Coachman believes that mastering ideal smile design and orofacial harmony is the starting point of interdisciplinary treatment planning and is vital to succeed in modern esthetic dentistry. The problem is that designing smiles in harmony with faces is complex and subjective, and requires artistic skills that we usually don't learn in dental school or at dental technician courses. And to make matters more complicated, many of our cases are not ideal. As a result, it’s important to become great at developing the best smile design possible for the reality of each case.
The course outcomes are as follows:
Develop your artistic skills and master harmony
Learn smile design principles to improve handmade or digital procedures, wax-ups, direct and indirect restorations
Learn modern orofacial and smile design principles
Understand morphology, real shapes and perceived shapes
Design smiles in ideal and compromised situations
Learn functional design and restorative design
Achieve esthetics with 3D technology
Understand the most common restorative and smile design limitations in real cases and how to use artistic principles and optical illusion to overcome them
Deal with space distribution limitations, gingival level limitations, gummy smile, ridge deficiencies, tooth position, and shape and size limitations.
Overcome diastema or black triangle
Overcome functional limitations
Create efficient dentist-lab communication protocols
No, these topics will not be covered. This course is focused on dento-facial esthetics and the artistic skills to create harmony.
Yes. Dental Academy USA designates this activity for 32 hours continuing education credit. Dental Academy USA is an ADA CERP Recognized Provider. This continuing education activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the standards of the ADA Continuing Education Recognition Program (ADA CERP) through joint efforts between Dental Academy USA and Digital Smile Design.
The Designing Smiles course is for all decision makers in the smile rehabilitation process.
If you’re a doctor, you’ll learn how to improve your smile design skills to communicate better with your lab, how to adjust things in the mouth, reshape mock ups and provisionals, make important modifications in final restorations, how to express your analysis of lab work and ask for modifications.
Even if you outsource your smile designs to the DSD Planning Center, it’s important to understand that DSD facilitates decision making – we don’t take the decisions for you.
So this course will help you to improve your smile design skills to communicate better with your lab.
Designing Smiles Hands On with Christian Coachman Madrid November 2025DSD Planning Center, Calle de Ochandiano, Madrid, Spain
Nov 14, 2025
- Nov 15, 2025
Learning Hub
Madrid Travel Guide
Plan your trip to Madrid with these recommendations from people who know the best places.
Course Guide
Get the official Course Guide for an overview of the Designing Smiles course.
Drawing the smile curve
Part of the smile design process, Christian Coachman explains how to draw the smile curve.
Your next steps with the Designing Smiles Course
If you are considering joining the upcoming course, take one of the following steps:
This course takes place in partnership with:
This course is sponsored by:
Continuing Education Credits
Digital Smile Design is proud to offer 32 Continuing Education (CE) Credits for this course through our collaboration with Dental Academy USA, a PACE Approved organization affiliated with the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) #420360. The AGD represents a prestigious community, dedicated to the support and advancement of general dentists, by providing valuable resources aimed at enhancing their practices and the quality of patient care.