Five steps to designing your uniquely beautiful smile with porcelain veneers

As a cosmetic dentist, Dr. Joyce Kahng, Owner of Orange And Magnolia Dental Studio designs beautiful, one-of-a-kind smiles that match each person’s unique facial features and enhance their overall appearance. 

Virtual consultation

Unhappy with your smile? No worries! The process usually starts with sending Dr. Kahng a photo of your whole face and smile. You’ll also note what you don’t like about your current smile. Dr. Joyce Kahng reviews this information and records you a personalised video, which discusses:

• Your suitability for veneers
• Estimated costs
• Financing options
• The process moving forward, including the number of appointments necessary to complete your veneers

In-person consultation

If you’re happy with the virtual consultation, we’ll move forward with booking a face-to-face consultation. You’ll either have your primary general dentist send X-rays over to our office. Or, we’ll get a set of X-rays taken during this visit. It’s critical for Dr. Kahng to assure there are no cavities or bone loss, which may preclude you from getting veneers. These elements of the process cannot be evaluated during a virtual meeting.

She’ll also look inside your mouth and assess your “bite,” how the opposing teeth in the upper and lower jaws come together when you close your mouth. Photographs and scans are taken of the teeth to gather as much information about your smile. None of this is painful. It’s just about gathering as many details as possible to aid in Dr. Kahng designing your smile perfectly.

She also asks that you bring three photos of smiles that you admire; for instance, these could be photos of friends’ or celebrities’ smiles or even close-ups of teeth that you like. The idea is to design a smile that looks good within the framework of your face but doesn’t look like a “copy” of the other smiles.

From there:

• We send all of these records to our skilled ceramists.
• Dr. Kahng works closely with the lab to design a potential “mock-up” or “wax-up.”
• The “mock-up” is a model made from wax that demonstrates how your teeth may look post-treatment.
• We perform in-office whitening to ensure that there are no color contrasts between the upper veneered teeth and the lower unaltered teeth.

Second visit

After around two weeks, you’ll return to our studio. We want you to be comfortable because this is the longest visit during the veneers process. At this visit, you will be numbed with local anesthesia and the teeth are reshaped to receive the final veneers.

Impressions or scans of the teeth are also taken and, at the end of this process, Dr. Kahng applies your temporary veneers. These veneers are based off the wax-up. Over the next two to three weeks, you’ll get to “test out” the mock-up in your mouth. If, for instance, the temporary appear overly long, we will communicate that to the ceramist. So, they can make necessary adjustments. We also provide strict post-op instructions. It’s important to take great care of your temporaries, as we want your gums to be healthy during the actual installation (or cementing) of your permanent veneers.

Third visit: Installing your veneers!

We start this appointment by numbing the area and “trying in” the final set of porcelain veneers that were handcrafted by the master ceramist. Once we verify that you love your final veneers, Dr. Kahng and her assistant begin the process of cementation. Dr. Kahng will finish the appointment by polishing the teeth, making sure the bite feels as good as possible, and taking a final scan, which is used to make retainers or a nightguard.

Fourth visit: The follow-up

This “feel-good” appointment is a great opportunity to show off your revamped smile. We’ll also provide you retainers or a nightguard and make adjustments as needed.  

A final note: Orange And Magnolia Dental Studio recommends follow-up visits on at least an annual basis. That way, our cosmetic dentist confirms that your smile continues to look great. After all, cosmetic cases are Dr. Kahng’s specialty! Start the process today. Visit the “Virtual Consultation” button on this website, or call us at (949) 867-4346 with questions. We’ll see you soon!