Smile makeover, Raleigh
A smile makeover you wear for a week before you decide.
A smile makeover is not a package. It is a written plan across whatever your teeth actually need, in the right order: whitening, aligners, bonding, veneers, sometimes only two of those. Here, the plan is made in wax, fitted in your mouth as a trial smile, and worn for about a week before anything that cannot be undone.
This page is the full process. The treatment pages explain each treatment. Results vary.
- A plan across treatments, not a count of veneers
- The trial smile worn for about a week before any tooth is prepared
- Treatments sequenced so nothing is done twice
- Shade matched by daylight with the ceramist in the room
- Every tooth and every visit listed in writing, with the fee
Or call (919) 555-0137 Monday to Thursday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Friday 8:00 am to 2:00 pm
What a makeover is here
A plan, not a package.
Somewhere else, a smile makeover is a number of veneers. Here it is a question: what does each tooth need, and in what order? A plan might be whitening and two bonded edges. It might be aligners for six months, then four veneers. It might be ten veneers, if that is the honest answer, and sometimes it is.
The plan is written tooth by tooth by Priya at the end of the consultation, with the number of visits and the fee for the whole smile. You take it home. Then, if you want to go on, the first thing we make is the trial.
The process
Five steps, and nothing irreversible until the fourth.
-
1
The consultation and the photographs
An hour with Dr. Ellery or Dr. Castellanos. Photographs of your face and your teeth, a look at your bite and your gums, and a plain conversation about what you want changed. Candidacy first: if something rules out a treatment, you hear it now. You leave with the written plan.
-
2
Records and the wax plan
A scan of your teeth and a full set of photographs. Anders and the dentist design the new shapes in wax on a model of your mouth, a tenth of a millimetre at a time, with your face in the photographs beside them.
-
3
The trial smile
The wax plan is copied onto your own teeth as a temporary mock-up, with no drilling. You wear it for about a week: at dinner, in daylight, in photographs, around people who know your face. You come back and say what to change. We change the mock-up and, if needed, you wear it again.
-
4
The shade, then the work, in order
Whitening first if it is in the plan, then two weeks for the colour to settle. Aligners next if teeth are moving. Then shade at the window with Anders, then the preparation, as little as the case allows, and the porcelain made on the bench. Temporaries in the shape of the trial smile go on in between.
-
5
The fitting and the follow-up
Veneers tried in and checked in daylight, adjusted by Anders on the spot if needed, then bonded. Bonding is finished and polished the same day. Keisha sees you for maintenance a few months later, and the plan says how often after that.
What the trial smile can show
What the trial smile can and cannot show you.
It shows shape and length
Exactly. The trial is the wax plan on your teeth. If the edges are too long for your lip, you will know by Wednesday.
It shows proportion
How the new teeth sit with your face, your lips at rest, your smile in photographs. This is the part a screen simulation gets wrong.
It shows the bite
If the plan catches your bite when you chew or speak, the trial catches it first, and the plan changes before any porcelain is made.
It does not show the final colour
The mock-up is one shade of resin. The real shade is chosen at the window, after any whitening, with the ceramist. It does not show translucency or surface texture either; porcelain does those.
It does not show the final fit
The mock-up sits over your teeth; the veneers will sit flush. The trial is thicker than the result by design.
It is not a commitment
Some people wear the trial and decide on less, or on bonding instead, or on nothing. Nothing has been done to the teeth, so that is a fine outcome.
The order of treatments
Why the order matters, and what it usually is.
Each step changes the starting point for the next. Done out of order, work gets redone.
| Step | Why it goes here | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Gum health first | Nothing cosmetic lasts on inflamed gums. Keisha treats them and the plan waits. | |
| Whitening | Natural teeth are lightened first and allowed to settle, so porcelain and composite are matched to the colour you will keep. | Teeth whitening |
| Aligners | A tooth that only needs moving is moved, not covered. Any bonding or veneers afterwards are thinner. | Clear aligners |
| Bonding | Small fixes on teeth that do not need porcelain, done after the colour and position are final. | Dental bonding |
| Veneers | Last, because they are the one step that cannot be undone, and everything before them changes what they need to do. | Porcelain veneers |
The mirror moment
The only gallery that matters is your own mouth.
Every competitor shows pictures of other people's teeth. They prove something about those people's teeth. The trial smile is the alternative: your teeth, your face, your week, and a conversation afterwards about what to change.
This is also why this site has no gallery of mouths. The photographs here are of the studio and the people who work in it.
Want to know whether your case is a small plan or a large one before you book? Call. Priya will ask what bothers you and tell you honestly what a consultation would cover.
(919) 555-0137Monday to Thursday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Friday 8:00 am to 2:00 pm
The written plan
Every tooth, every visit, and the fee for the whole smile.
The plan lists each tooth that is part of the smile and what is proposed for it, in order; the number of visits and roughly when; what is included (the trial smile, temporaries, the first retainers, the first maintenance visit) and what is not; and the fee for the whole plan, with the smaller plan priced beside it where there is one. It is handed to you at the consultation, not after a deposit.
How the figure is built, and what financing looks like, is on the veneers cost page.
Before you book
Questions people ask about a makeover before they book.
Anything else, call (919) 555-0137. Priya answers.
How long does a smile makeover take?
From the consultation to the final fitting: a few weeks for a plan of bonding and veneers alone, most of a year if aligners are part of it. The written plan gives the visits and a range of dates. The trial smile week is inside that, not added to it.
What is digital smile design, and do you do it?
A screen simulation of a new smile on a photograph of your face. We use photographs and a scan to plan in the same way, but we do not stop at the screen: the plan is made in wax and worn in your mouth, because a screen cannot show your lip, your bite or your week.
Can I just do my top front teeth?
Often, yes. The teeth that show when you smile are usually the upper six to ten, and many plans are smaller than that. The trial smile tells you where the smile stops looking finished, and the plan lists only the teeth that need something.
What if I wear the trial smile and do not like it?
We change it. The mock-up is adjusted and you wear it again. If you decide on less, or on nothing, nothing has been done to your teeth and nothing is owed beyond the planning stage, which the plan states up front.
Is a smile makeover covered by insurance?
Cosmetic work is usually not covered. Where a part of the plan is also restorative, such as a cracked tooth that needs a crown, that part sometimes is, and Priya checks it before the plan is written. The veneers cost page explains financing.
Next step
Wear the plan for a week. Then decide.
Book a consultation. The plan is written before you leave, and the trial smile is made before any tooth is touched.