Can you help a gal out? I’ve always been embarrassed about my smile. The two front teeth overlap one another, they’re stained, and two of them are chipped. I’ve been pricing porcelain veneers because I’ve been told they can fix all of those issues at once, but they cost a fortune. Are there dentists who will offer a desperate gal an affordable smile makeover?

Mindy L.

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “You get what you pay for.” While it’s not always true, there are certain occasions where it bears more weight. Smile makeovers, especially with porcelain veneers, are one of them. The last thing you want is a slipshod smile. There have been countless smile makeover disasters and I don’t want yours to be one of them.

With that in mind, I want you to ask yourself if it’s more important to you that you improve your smile affordably or to get porcelain veneers affordably? Based on the issues you described, there is a much more affordable way to repair and improve your smile without the high cost of porcelain veneers.

Getting an Affordable Smile Makeover

While veneers are designed for a complete smile makeover, you can get a gorgeous smile without them. Here are three procedures I’m going to recommend to you that combined will still be more affordable for you than what you’re asking for.

• Invisalign: This straightens your teeth without wire and metal, invisibly. No one will even know you’re wearing them.
• Teeth whitening: This will take away all the stains that are bothering you. In fact, this alone makes patients look years younger.
• Dental bonding: Those few chips you mentioned can be easily repaired with dental bonding.

One important thing to note. Make sure you get the teeth whitening done before getting the bonding placed on the chips. You want the bonding material to match your whiter teeth, not your current stained teeth. Also, any visible fillings you have will need to be replaced to match your whitened teeth as well.

This blog is brought to you by Dr. Kevin Peck.