REPORTER: DAVID RICHARDSON
No drilling, no pain, and you can have that smile you’ve always dreamed of, quick, easy and no pain — it sounds too good to be true; a painless dental visit. But now you can get a celebrity smile, thanks to a revolutionary new treatment that is changing lives. “Many people don’t have the teeth they want they’re very embarrassed with their smile, so they train themselves not to smile with their teeth. It’s very common and it’s something we’d like to change.” says Dentist, Dr. Saade Saade.
“Before I didn’t even show my teeth. I would smile like this in photos but now I show my teeth and it’s made a huge difference to my life.” says Lisa, one of the first in the country to undergo this 21st century dental innovation. It’s called “snap-on smile” — “It’s a two appointment process. We take a mould at the first appointment, we send that away and a month later you come back and you get your snap on smile. It is really as simple as that”, said Dr. Saade Saade.
Dr. Saade is using the snap on smile to fix any number of problems, from missing teeth to covering unsightly gaps — or worse. “We had this lady who through many years of neglect had a lot of fillings, a lot of dental work. She was unhappy with her smile. Not surprising really — discoloured teeth, missing teeth, and with a snap on smile for top and bottom jaw we gave her a very beautiful smile in two appointments”, he said.
The snap on smile is made from a tough new resin devised in the United States. They don’t fade or discolour, and are shatter proof. In 3 weeks Lisa had a new Hollywood smile, thanks to her cosmetic dentist Dr. Timothy Goh. “What we’ve done is we’ve extended her teeth by about 3-millimetres and brought out her lower lip a little bit more. It sounds like a lot but it looks really, really nice.” Dr Goh said. “A snap on smile will start at $2,200, this is a fraction of the cost of getting porcelain veneers or porcelain crowns. Not only do we change the patients’ teeth, we change their self esteem. They become more confident and a lot happier”, Dr. Saade said.
Even people with pretty good teeth like Helen, are keen for a new look.”It’s just showing too much gum when I smile, so I’m not exactly happy with that”, Helen said. In three weeks, Helen will have a new set of snap on teeth. “The snap on smile is going to be revolutionary because it’s removable, it’s quick to put on, and it’s very comfortable for the patients to wear”, said Dr Jason Pang.
“You can decide what kind of smile you like. Whether you want the Julia Roberts type wide smile and you can choose the shape and the size of the teeth. Of course the colour as well — the possibilities are almost limitless”, Dr Pang said. If zoom 3 revolutionised tooth whitening in the dental surgery, now the same effect can be had at home, a whitening kit like no other. “In the past the home kits that were available the patient would have to wear a bleaching tray for about 10 to 14 nights for about 2 to 4 hours a night. and sometimes overnight.” says Dr Sophia Petta.
Dr. Petta can make a special mouthguard for the at home kit in less than 30 minutes. The rest is done in the comfort of your home. “Two applications a day of 15 minutes each, for 7 days. It’s a lot stronger than the other home kits that are available — currently as far as I am aware, it is the strongest on the market at 38% carbamide peroxide. They can get up to 14 shades lighter depending on the original colour of their teeth”, she added.
These two latest cosmetic innovations are now within reach of more and more everyday Australians. And with a new Zoom 4 whitening system on the way to our shores late this year, it’s set to cut treatment time down to less than a lunch break.Whatever the system, patients can’t be happier.
