Sitting in the dentist’s chair, my lips still anesthetized, I looked into the mirror and nearly collapsed. Gone were my once healthy, white teeth, replaced by a row of broken roots that looked like something out of a horror movie. But this was no dream, this was my own reality.
I was mesmerized by the perfect smiles of Hollywood stars and believed that veneers were the only way to achieve my ideal look. These thin layers of porcelain cover the surface of your teeth, making them straight, white, and flawless.
I thought it was just a simple aesthetic improvement, but I never expected it would completely change the way I thought about my teeth, and my life.
As a child, I was often called “Bugs Bunny” because of my protruding front teeth, which made me extremely self-conscious and rarely smiled. As a teenager, I got traditional braces provided by the NHS to correct them, but the results were not perfect and my teeth still protruded slightly.
As time went on, in my thirties, I began to notice gaps between my front teeth, which made me feel insecure about the appearance of my teeth again.
When I was getting married in 1999, I decided to have permanent “repairs” because I had to show my “imperfect” teeth in my wedding photos.
At that time, there were no invisible braces like today, and I didn’t want to wear metal braces anymore, so I went to a reputable dental clinic in London.
The dentist told me that I needed to install veneers on six teeth, which would cost a total of ￡4,000. I thought I only needed to deal with the two front teeth, but he insisted that this was a necessary step to get a natural effect.
He didn’t explain the treatment process in detail, nor did he try to understand why I cared so much about my teeth – I was just an ordinary person troubled by the shadow of my childhood.
On the day of the first treatment, I was anesthetized and underwent the so-called “tooth preparation”. At that time, I didn’t know that this meant a lot of grinding of my teeth.
It was not until I saw the broken nail-like tooth roots in the mirror after the treatment that I realized how serious the matter was. The temporary dentures were funny in shape and rough in texture, and they could not hide my inner collapse at all.
When the real porcelain veneers were completed, I found that they were too short, too thick, too unnatural, and the color was yellower than my previous teeth. It turned out that the dentist took it upon himself to choose veneers that matched the color of my lower teeth without telling me in advance. His decision resulted in a worse mouth of teeth, but I was too embarrassed to complain.
I didn’t realize that the worse part was coming. Veneers are not a permanent solution. They usually only last 10 to 15 years, and in order to stick them, a lot of my healthy enamel has been worn away. Once the dental veneers fall off or break, my “nail teeth” will not be able to withstand it. The cost of repairing them again is dental implants or dentures.
And I’m not the only one. Fueled by social media and celebrity smile standards, cosmetic dentistry has become a hot industry.
Analysts estimate that the global market is worth ￡23 billion and is expected to double by 2034. In the UK, the cosmetic dentistry market reached ￡283 million in 2023 and is expected to grow to ￡376 million in 2029.
Chris Dean, a dental expert, points out that many people who receive cosmetic treatments actually have healthy teeth, but the misunderstanding of “perfection” leads to unnecessary treatment.
He warned: “Veneers are originally intended to cover minor surface flaws, not to correct tooth alignment problems. If the teeth are not straight, a lot of grinding must be done on the teeth, which can easily damage the dentin.”
In addition, the adhesion of veneers on dentin is far less effective than that on enamel. Once they break or fall off, the consequences are extremely serious. The earlier the veneer is done, the higher the subsequent maintenance cost. The cost of each veneer ranges from 600 to 2,000 pounds, which is a considerable financial burden.
In 2013, my veneers began to crack and turn yellow – partly due to the habit of grinding teeth, and partly due to the aging of the bonding material.
I found Italian dentist Professor Milvia di Gioia to repair them. She attaches great importance to natural teeth and was even surprised that I had veneers.
She pointed out that my old veneers were unnatural in color, opaque, and of an inappropriate thickness. They could not let light in, but made my teeth look “green and yellow”. Even more shocking is that after the veneers were removed, there was almost no tooth left.
She thinks this is because the unskilled doctor chose thicker veneers to hide the problem and sacrificed my tooth structure.
In the end, she ordered thinner, more transparent veneers that match the shape of my face, which cost more than ￡1,000 each. Although the effect is good now, I am 61 years old and the veneers may not last the rest of my life. I feel deeply uneasy about having to spend tens of thousands of pounds to replace them again in the future.
I hope to tell more people through my experience that veneers are not an easy choice, nor are they a shortcut to a perfect smile. It is even more irreversible than tattoos.
If I could go back to the past, I would rather choose to accept my teeth instead of letting them become an endless nightmare.