Your smile deserves a spot on your pre-wedding beauty checklist. A great smile can boost your confidence on your big day, and beyond, so it is no surprise that is it is a leading motivation for dental treatment. Aesthetic dentists Dr Sheena Tanna and Dr Alex Seijas detail the definitive treatments to help you plan your smile countdown so you look and feel your best on your wedding day.
The happiest day of your life means you’re likely to be smiling a lot, and having photos and videos taken on your wedding day – probably more than any day of your life. But what if you don’t like your teeth?
“The ideal smile is yours but better”, explains Dr Alex Seijas, founder of the London Orthodontic Clinic.
Dr Seijas continues, “Top on the list of smile requests from our patients in the run up to their weddings include:
- Teeth which are straight and not jutting out, crooked or crowded
- A brighter, whiter shade matching the whites of the eyes
- Removal of tooth staining
- Wide smile showing lots of teeth
- Teeth proportional to each other
- Disguising tooth chips and smoothing out irregular tooth edges
Digital approach
Both Dr Tanna and Dr Seijas’ London Orthodontic Clinic use technology to help brides-to-be, grooms and members of their top table cast list achieve their wedding ready smiles.
“There are plenty of treatments we offer at the London Orthodontic Clinic that can help you achieve your ideal smile”, says Dr Seijas. “As a start point, we have a smile simulation tool, where you upload a photo and see your straighter, brighter smile in 60 seconds. A quick digital scan of your mouth allows us to review your teeth, and then we discuss how to achieve the smile you want. I often recommend Invisalign treatment for tooth straightening for people who are getting married. Brides tell me they like that the clear aligners are barely noticeable, perfect for pre-wedding events. It’s good to start planning with a year to go so we can time the staged treatment and predict the outcome to the week, so that we can time it to fit with the wedding date”.
Dr Tanna says:
“We have large digital screens and 3D scanners in each consulting room incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) that helps dentists quickly and accurately identify any problems with their teeth or gums. Our digital treatment planning is powered by augmented reality(AR), which helps patients visualise what their new smile might look like in photos and videos.”
“Technology has opened so many new possibilities”, says Dr Seijas. “A 3D scan using the latest iTero scanner uses a slim wand which is simply swiped around the mouth for a couple of minutes. The resulting video images of the patient’s mouth goes up on the TV screen, which enables us to discuss the status of their mouth together, including how we can get them their dream smiles by their wedding.
Dr. Sheena Tanna heads up Billericay Dental Care – a practice she has built around latest-generation digital technology which allows for more accurate diagnosis and personalised treatment plans. She says: “A lot of my patients have anxiety about their smiles in the run-up to their wedding. They know they’ll be in lots of photos and videos.”
Simple changes
“But so many of the issues they’re worried about are easy to fix: It’s not about drastic changes. It’s neat and simple things we can do now that will have a great impact on your smile. For instance, people often come to us because they’re concerned about staining, yet a simple air polish that takes no more than 20-30 minutes will restore teeth to their natural colour.”
Dr. Tanna also points out that even persistent staining or yellowing can resolved with a course of whitening treatment. “Tooth whitening can take a couple of weeks, but even after just a few days you’ll begin to see a difference which will continue to improve, so you’ll feel more and more confident as the wedding day approaches.”
Dr. Tanna also suggests patients consider replacing amalgam (silver) fillings if they’re visible when a patient smiles. It’s a small change but makes such a big difference. We can also use the same white material (called composite bonding) to smooth the edges of chipped teeth and create an even, regular appearance without damaging or removing any of the underlying tooth structure. This is a minimally invasive treatment which can be performed a week or two before the wedding after the whitening treatment so we can match the bonding material to the newly lighter teeth”
Dr Sejias adds
“When we tell patients that we can make small tweaks to their smiles I can see how much it means. The transformation isn’t just visible – it’s something they feel, and that’s what truly matters. Because on your wedding day, your smile shouldn’t be something you should have think about, it should be something you simply wear with confidence.”
