Smile MakeoverIn Irvine, CA
A smile makeover is a personalized combination of cosmetic and restorative treatments designed around your features, your goals, and the way your smile functions. Whether you want to address discoloration, worn or chipped teeth, uneven proportions, gaps, alignment concerns, or missing teeth, we thoughtfully plan each step so you can understand where your smile is headed before treatment begins.
Why should I get a smile makeover?
A smile makeover is about more than changing the appearance of your teeth. It gives us the opportunity to look at your smile as a whole, including tooth shape, proportion, alignment, function, and overall oral health. From there, we can create a thoughtful treatment plan that feels cohesive rather than addressing one concern at a time.
Just as importantly, we believe you should understand how your smile is being designed. From gathering your initial records to creating a wax-up and ultimately delivering your final restorations, we take time to walk you through the process so there are fewer unknowns along the way.
Restore Functionality
A smile makeover can address worn, damaged, missing, or improperly positioned teeth that affect the way you bite, chew, or speak. By considering function alongside aesthetics, we can create a smile that is not only beautiful, but comfortable and made to work well long term.
Enhance appearance
Every detail contributes to the way a smile looks, from tooth color and shape to symmetry, proportions, and how your teeth complement your facial features. Your smile makeover may include treatments such as whitening, bonding, veneers, crowns, clear aligner therapy, or dental implants to create a balanced result that still looks like you.
Improve overall oral health
Cosmetic concerns can sometimes overlap with functional or oral health concerns. Addressing worn teeth, damaged restorations, gaps, or alignment issues may make your smile easier to maintain while creating a healthier foundation for your final result.
No-prep + minimal-prep veneers
A beautiful smile doesn’t always require aggressive treatment. When appropriate, we offer no-prep and minimal-prep veneers, allowing us to enhance your smile while preserving as much healthy natural tooth structure as possible.
Treatment is carefully planned around the shape, position, and proportions of your existing teeth so we can determine whether a conservative veneer approach is appropriate for your smile. The goal is a result that feels natural, balanced, and thoughtfully designed rather than overdone.
Cutting-edge tech
Thoughtful smile design starts with detailed records. We use dental and facial photographs, measurements, and Kois reference principles to evaluate how your teeth relate to your lips, face, bite, and overall proportions.
These records give us a clearer starting point for designing your smile and help remove some of the guesswork from cosmetic treatment. Instead of simply choosing a tooth shape or shade, we can plan your result around the features that make your smile uniquely yours.
Highly trained
Dr. Sunwoo combines advanced training in cosmetic dentistry with a highly detailed approach to smile design. Rather than rushing directly into treatment, she takes time to evaluate your smile, understand your priorities, and carefully plan the result before irreversible changes are made.
That attention to detail carries through every stage of the process, from your initial records and wax-up to the final delivery of your restorations.
Whole-health focused
Your smile does not exist separately from the rest of your oral health. We consider your bite, gums, tooth structure, function, and long-term stability alongside the cosmetic changes you would like to make.
This whole-health approach helps us create results that are not only aesthetically beautiful, but designed to feel comfortable, function naturally, and support your oral health for years to come.
No Prep + Minimal Prep Veneers
A beautiful smile doesn’t always require aggressive treatment. When appropriate, we offer no-prep and minimal-prep veneers, allowing us to enhance your smile while preserving as much of your natural tooth structure as possible. This conservative approach can mean less discomfort, a more natural look, and results that feel just as good as they look—beautiful, balanced, and thoughtfully designed for you.
Cutting-Edge Tech
With our cutting-edge technology, we utilize dental facial analysis photos through Kois reference classes. This advanced technique allows us to assess the proper size and proportions of your teeth, ensuring a harmonious and natural-looking smile. By incorporating the latest technological advancements, we can provide precise and personalized treatments that cater to your unique needs.
Highly Trained
Dr. Sunwoo is dedicated to providing stunning and long-lasting results for your smile makeover. With years of experience and expertise in cosmetic dentistry, Dr. Sunwoo is committed to delivering exceptional care and ensuring that you achieve the smile of your dreams.
Whole-Health Focused
We understand that oral health is closely linked to overall well-being, so we consider factors beyond just the appearance of your teeth. Our treatments are designed to improve not only the aesthetics but also the functionality and health of your smile, ensuring a holistic and long-lasting result.
The Smile Makeover Treatment Process
Treatment plan + records
Your smile makeover begins with a comprehensive evaluation and a conversation about what you would like to change. We’ll look at your teeth, gums, bite, facial proportions, and overall oral health while learning what feels most important to you.
We then gather detailed records that may include dental and facial photographs, scans, X-rays, measurements, and other diagnostic information appropriate for your case. Think of this as the blueprint stage. These records allow us to study your smile beyond what we can see during a quick exam and begin designing a treatment plan around your individual anatomy.
Before moving forward, we’ll walk through our recommendations with you so you understand which treatments are being considered, why we recommend them, and how each step contributes to the final result.
Smile design + wax-up
In our smile makeover journey, you will have the opportunity to consult with our team of specialists. These experts will provide their professional insights, answer any questions you may have, and guide you through the various treatment options available. We believe in a collaborative approach, ensuring that you are well-informed and comfortable with the decisions made.
Preparation + cosmetic treatments
Once the plan and smile design have been established, we can begin the clinical phase of your makeover. Your treatment may include veneers, crowns, bonding, whitening, clear aligner therapy, dental implants, or a combination of procedures depending on your needs.
For patients receiving veneers or other restorations, the wax-up helps guide preparation so we can be as intentional and conservative as possible. When no-prep or minimal-prep treatment is appropriate, preserving natural tooth structure remains a priority.
If your treatment involves multiple phases or specialists, we’ll coordinate the sequence carefully and explain what to expect before each stage begins.
Final delivery
The final delivery is when your custom restorations are placed and your planned smile comes to life. Before anything is finalized, we carefully evaluate the fit, shape, color, bite, proportions, and overall appearance.
This is not simply a matter of placing the restorations and sending you on your way. We take time to make sure the result feels right, functions comfortably, and reflects the smile we planned together.
Once everything is complete, we’ll also review how to care for your new smile and discuss any recommended follow-up or maintenance so you can protect your results long term.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
Check out these frequently asked questions, or call us to speak with our team.
The cost of a smile makeover can vary depending on several factors, including the specific treatments involved, the complexity of your case, and your individual goals. During your consultation, we will provide you with a personalized treatment plan that includes a breakdown of the costs involved. Our team will work with you to explore financing options and help you find a solution that fits your budget.
The cost of a smile makeover can vary significantly depending on the treatments included, the number of teeth involved, the complexity of your case, and your individual goals.
After gathering the appropriate records and determining what your smile makeover may involve, we’ll provide a personalized treatment plan with a clear breakdown of recommended care and associated costs. Our team can also discuss available financing options and help you understand your choices before moving forward.
The comfort and well-being of our patients are our top priorities. We strive to ensure that your smile makeover experience is as pain-free as possible. Depending on the treatments involved, you may experience some temporary discomfort or sensitivity, which can be managed with appropriate care and pain relief measures. We will guide you through each step of the process and take every measure to minimize any potential discomfort.
Your comfort is a priority throughout treatment. The experience will depend on which procedures are included in your smile makeover. Some treatments, such as whitening, may require little to no anesthesia, while veneers, crowns, or other restorative procedures may involve numbing the area before treatment.
We’ll explain what to expect before each stage so you are not walking into an appointment unsure of what will happen.
The duration of a smile makeover can vary depending on the complexity of your case and the specific treatments involved. Some procedures can be completed in a single visit, while others may require multiple appointments over a span of several weeks or months. During your consultation, we will provide you with a timeline for your specific smile makeover plan, giving you a clear understanding of the expected duration. Our goal is to deliver efficient and timely treatment without compromising on the quality of care.
There is no single timeline because every smile makeover is different. A simpler treatment plan may be completed relatively quickly, while a makeover involving clear aligners, implants, periodontal treatment, or multiple restorative phases may take several months or longer.
Once we have completed your records and treatment planning, we can give you a much clearer idea of your specific sequence and timeline.
Your records may include dental and facial photographs, digital scans, X-rays, measurements, and other diagnostic information depending on your needs.
These records help us understand how your teeth relate to your face, lips, gums, and bite. They also provide the foundation for designing your treatment rather than making cosmetic decisions based on appearance alone.
A wax-up is a representation of the smile we are planning before your final restorations are created. It allows us to visualize proposed changes to the shape, size, position, and proportions of your teeth.
For patients, it can make the process much easier to understand because you are no longer relying only on descriptions of what your smile “could” look like. For our clinical and laboratory teams, it becomes a roadmap that helps guide treatment.
The wax-up gives us an opportunity to evaluate and refine the design before moving into the final stages of treatment. It helps us look at details such as tooth length, symmetry, proportions, and how the teeth work together as a complete smile.
It can also help guide tooth preparation and communication with the dental laboratory, creating a more predictable transition from planning to final delivery.
One of the goals of our planning process is to make your treatment as understandable and predictable as possible. Your records and wax-up allow us to establish the direction of your smile before the final restorations are made.
While the exact process varies depending on your treatment, we’ll walk you through the proposed design and explain how we are translating that plan into your final smile.
At your final delivery appointment, we evaluate much more than appearance. We’ll look closely at the fit, color, shape, proportions, and bite before the restorations are finalized.
Once everything looks and feels appropriate, your restorations can be securely placed. We’ll then review home care, maintenance, and any follow-up recommendations to help protect your new smile.
