A method of making a dental restoration has the steps of providing a three-dimensional model of a dental restoration, providing a three-dimensional virtual model (21) of an anterior incisal portion of a patient's tooth, superimposing the dental restoration model and the incisal portion model (21), and automatically recessing the dental restoration model, and thereby creating a reduced dental restoration model. The method helps combining the advantages of monolithic dental restorations and manual finishing.
