Frequently Asked Questions

Hi, Im Dr. Vicky from Smile Design Studio. I’m going to show you what a porcelain veneer is. A porcelain veneer is a wafer thin piece of porcelain that can be added to the front of teeth to change their shape, size, color, and alignment. The ones we make here at Smile Design Studio are all handmade to suit the individual and designed with all the natural characteristics for them to blend to the natural. They are made from a very durable material that has the same wear rate as our tooth natural enamel. They can replace missing parts of teeth that have been broken or close gaps between teeth and change the appearance of a smile totally. They are completely color matched so that no one can ever tell which are yours and which aren’t. They are impervious to stain. So they will always stay the same color even if you drink lots of coffee or red wine. They are strong. So it can be used to eat with naturally as you would your normal teeth. But a word of caution whatever you don’t do to your own teeth. Please do not attempt with these, if you can break your own teeth or wear them down. You can also do that with these. So, no biting finger nails, opening beer bottles or grinding on them please.

Hi, this is Dr. Vicky of Smile Design Studio. A lot of patients are anxious about dental treatment. So if you are one of those. I’d like to say that we can actually take all your fears away because we have the greatest anesthetists that we work with who are gentle, understanding and kind and they will help you sleep through the procedure. So you don’t have to worry about a thing. Just come in, go to sleep, wake up and it’s all done. It’s as easy as that. So if you’re ever anxious or scared. There’s no need to be. We’re all here committed to looking after you and making sure you’ve got the best outcome and also for you to have the best experience ever. So if you’d like us to look after you please give us a call.

Hi, I’m Dr. Vicki from Smile Design Studio. Here, we design smiles to suit each individual person that comes to see us. And how do we do this? We basically have a look at their face structure. We look at the shapes of their faces and also whether they are male or female. And also what they aspire to have their smile like. We sit down with each individual person and see what their dreams are of getting the smile that they want. And then we work with their facial features whether they’ve got a square jaw or a very tapered face and the proportions in length. And we used the golden proportions of nature, which is the golden shimbashi rule that is basically a mathematical formula that enables us to work out exactly the right proportion for that person. We used photographs to have a look at the shape of their lip line as well. Some people’s lips like, for example Julia Roberts’ very wide smile and others are very curvy. So we need to design a smile that fits their lips and their face. So in a nutshell, what we do is really individualized; is extremely personalized. So that nobody ends up with someone else’s smile. Let me show you how we do it. Firstly, we use the mathematical calculations of the golden shimbashi rule of proportion of nature to calculate the correct size and length of the teeth. Then from there, we can choose the characterization of the teeth because natural teeth have natural flaws which add to the beauty of the smile. We do not make them perfect, but rather to have all the individual characters that make them yours. For example, in this close up, we can see that the edges of the teeth are not perfectly straight and there are textures in the surface. So that the light bounces off in little ripples and there is also translucency and that light actually can shine through these veneers so they look like real teeth. This makes them look real and natural every single time.

Hi, I’m Dr. Vicki from Smile Design Studio. Patients always want to know how we can guarantee our results. Well, that’s simple. We have a Smile Design process, which is a set system that we’ve been using for years now to guarantee that our patients will love the results every single time. In all these years I’ve been doing smiles, I’ve never had one patient leave without loving it. And the reason why is because we design the smiles from the very beginning with our patients involved. They give us some idea of what they would like to achieve. And then we work backwards from there. We look at the structure of their face, the shape of their smile, and their lips. We use lots of photography as well as designing with golden proportions the right size, shape, and color for their face. Now when we’ve done the design. We will then send it to the lab for a mock up of the entire smile. So that patients can actually see the result before they even commit to any treatment. What we do is get the mockups right. When the patient loves the mockups, what we do then is we will transfer the mockups to the face. So they get to take home the new smile and try it out in front of their friends and family and make sure they get all the critiques they want. And by the time they have done that, we’ll know then whether that suits them or not, whether they want any changes. And once we create all the changes in the mockups then we’ll know exactly what we want for the final. So that gives the patients a really good expectation of what they’re going to get. And will know all the little changes that we need to instill before it goes to the final production. So that way we know that when we make the teeth at the end it will be exactly what the patient wants and obey exactly correct for their face and what they wanted to achieve. So that is why we can guarantee our results 100%. We will fix it and make sure that you are 100% happy before we’re done.

Hi, this is Dr. Vicky from Smile Designs Studio. How do you correct crooked teeth with cosmetic dentistry? Well, everyone knows that you can correct crooked with the traditional braces. And now we also have damon braces, which is a new generation of braces. And we also have Invisalign which is invisible braces. But what people are really interested as well is to find out how we can correct crooked teeth instantly using porcelain veneers. For me to illustrate this. I think it’s best to probably show you a video of how we did that for one of our clients Kimberly. Kimberly came to see us to find a solution for her crooked teeth that she wanted straightened. After discussing the various options for her, including braces, Invisalign and porcelain veneers. She decided that she did not want to wait the length of time it would take to straighten her teeth with braces or Invisalign. So she decided to go for the instant fix with porcelain veneers part of her decision was because she lives in the country six hours away from Perth and the inconvenience of coming here for braces every month would be too much. With porcelain veneers we can fix her smile in just two visits. So we started out by taking a series of records and designing her new smile. “The main thing definitely would be just to have the front two straight and match up with the rest of my smile. I feel like they are the two that are sort of out of place and just have a pearly white smile for a change and not have the little chips in my teeth anymore. One of my biggest things is that I don’t want them to be too bulky like in comparison to everything else just look as natural as possible really.” We design her new smile and create some mockups for her to view before any work is done on her actual teeth. The smile is created on a model of her natural teeth. So that she can see the result. And also try the new smile out before her final smile is made. “You didn’t expect it?”, “I don’t know what I expected but it looks really good.” When she has experienced her new trial smile in acrylic on her teeth. She can then make any final changes before the final porcelain veneers are completed. We trial the porcelain veneers in and she can have the final say on whether she wants them changed. “They look really good. It looks so good.” If everything is to her liking then we will proceed to bond them in. Her final porcelain veneers will feel, function, and look just like her natural teeth.

Hi, this is Dr. Vicky from Smile Designs Studio. Patients always ask me what are the differences between composite veneers and porcelain veneers. I’m not only going to tell you, but I’m going to show you what the differences are. Firstly, the composite veneer is made out of resin and shaped directly onto teeth. The porcelain veneer is made of porcelain and is handmade in a laboratory. Therefore, the composite can be done in a single visit. But not the porcelain. Because the composite is a resin or a plastic material. It cannot shine up as much as glass. So the composite resins tend to be much more matte in the finish. And it’s not possible to achieve the high glossy glazed shine like you can with glass or porcelain. The composites also come in set colors. So it is not as easy to get a perfect match to surrounding teeth as not all teeth are stock standard colors. The porcelains are handmade to match perfectly whatever characteristics natural teeth have. Because plastic is a lot less impervious than glass. The composite resins then tend to stain and discolor over time with any of the colored food that we eat. But the porcelain will never discolor. So if you want to see which type of veneer is most suitable for your needs, please give us a call.

Hi, This is Dr. Vicky from Smile Designs Studio. I’ve had many patients come in to me with reservations about getting their smile done because they’ve seen other people who’ve had cosmetic work done and they look fake or they don’t look like their own teeth. Or you’ve probably even seen it where some people have had their gums recede and you see the ugly gray line around the old crowns. That’s what people see, the bad results. And that’s what they associate with having dentistry done. However, if it’s done well, it should be seamless. There should be no delineation between what’s real and what’s not, what’s natural and what’s false. The well done ones people don’t even notice because they’re so natural and they look so real. So how do we do that? Well, we’ve got a very talented artisan, who is a technician, who has come with me to America to study as well. And he’s learned how to plant the edge of the veneer in with the necks of the teeth so they’re completely seamless. So in years to come, should the gums recede the visible line between where the veneer meets the root It’s actually not even visible because it’s completely blended and that is a special technique that not many people employ. So that’s why our veneers look very natural, you cannot see where they are start or where they finish. And also they are also translucent so that light shines through them. And there is no opaqueness about them that make them look fake. And of course anatomical. They need to have the natural anatomy, shape, characteristics, imperfections and texture that natural teeth have. So when you include all of those elements. These teeth look real and they look natural and nobody can tell if you had anything done at all, which is really nice. So if you’re interested to see how we can improve your smile please come in and have a chat.

Hi, this is Dr. Vicky from Smile Design Studio. Patients always ask me how many teeth do I need to get done to get my perfect smile? Well, that depends greatly on what needs to be changed in the smile. And also, it depends greatly on how many teeth they show in their smile. Some people have very narrow openings and thus only show a few teeth whereas others have really wide openings and they show everything from front to back. So it depends on the changes that they want to achieve. If they want to reduce a gummy smile. If the gums go all the way to the back then they’ll have a lot more teeth that they’ll need to do. Or if they need to change the proportions or the sizes we don’t want to find that we do only a part of the smile which doesn’t then blend with the rest of the back. So it’s very, very important to see what the patient shows as to what they want to achieve and how much difference between their natural teeth and their final smile they want to achieve. The greater the difference the more teeth you’ve got to do. However, if we only need to do one because one tooth is damage. We can do that and match it perfectly as well. So there is not a set number of teeth that you have to do. It just depends on the result that you want. And ultimately what you need to do to get that. And we’ll sit down at the Smile Design process and talk about all of that together.