Smiles, Everyone!

If your pearly whites aren't pearly or white enough, give them a smile makeover

By Andrea Cambern

"All right, a tall latte. Anything else?"

Marianna Moore is a familiar face to customers at Starbucks.

"Oh, its fun," she says of her job. "It's fast-paced, and it's great!" She loves providing customers with their daily jolt of java. But something inside always kept her from serving it up with a smile.

"I think it's wonderful to hand somebody a great cup of coffee with a great smile. They sort of blend together," she says.

The problem? She didn't like her smile. Marianna complained her teeth were too small, and she was always bother by her front-and-center gap. She also had metal bridges and crowns, a legacy of growing up in Communist Romania. Back then, each school has a dentist, and care was free. She used it as an excuse to get out of physics class. "To get an excuse I went to a dental office and (said) "Ohhh, my tooth is hurting," Marianna says, "One time I ended up with a tooth being pulled because of that."

You wouldn't know by looking, but her smile is something that's bothered this beautiful young woman for years. She dreamed of making a change, and the frenzy over extreme makeovers in the media fueled her desire.

Marianna decided to invest the time and money to make her dream come true. Her transformation happened at the hands of Dr. Sharon Schindler, a Powell dentist with special training in cosmetic dentistry. She's busy. According to the Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, smile makeovers have increased by more than 250 percent in recent years.

The process took several visits. It started with a consultation and X-rays, and a wax mold of Marianna's mouth was made. The doctor replaced mercury fillings, placed temporary veneers and, finally, bonded the permanent veneers into place. Dr. Schindler also used a laser to re-contour Marianna's gum tissue.

The transformation took four to six weeks, but Dr. Schindler says with each case, the impact is immediate. "The first thing I notice is they smile bigger," Dr. Schindler says. "When we begin our pre-photos, we almost can't get them to smile big enough to see the extent of their teeth and their smile. And the on the final photos, they're smiling so large and they're so happy."

Marianna's reaction conveys that she couldn't be happier with the final results. "Fabulous! Wow, absolutely beautiful! They look like ...it looks like i was born with perfect teeth."

The veneers won't stain and can last up to 30 years. But this nearly instant injection of self-confidence doesn't come cheap. On average, veneers cost $1,500 per tooth, and often aren't covered by insurance. And the average smile makeover involves 10 teeth. You do the math.

It's an expensive improvement, to be sure. But for Marianna, it's money well spent. "I think it's wonderful to smile with confidence, and to know you feel so good about yourself when you smile," she says.

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Dr Sharon Schindler DDS, Holistic Dentistry - Providing services in cosmetic dentistry, extreme smile makeovers, laser dentistry and porcelain veneers to the areas of Columbus and Powell, Ohio.