Ok, as most of my readers know, I have just had veneers! Here's a review of my experience :)
I have wanted to do something about my teeth for as long as I can remember, I went to the NHS dentist to see what orthadontics would do for me, but the thought of wearing a brace for two years physically turned my stomach and still after all that there would still be things that I didn't like about my teeth. So I started looking into cosmetic dentistry. I had been looking for a while and finally decided on having a consultation with the The Harley Street Smile Clinic.
The first thing I loved about this clinic was that they offered an online consultation, which is free and can give you a realistic idea of what needs to be done and how much its going to cost. (Email jill@harleystreetsmileclinic.co.uk). So I went ahead and e-mailed a picture of my teeth and had a really quick reply off Jill, who is extremely lovely and friendly. After chatting with Jill for a little bit I decided to go ahead and book a 'real life' consultation. The consultation costs £75, and during that time you speak with the amazing dentist Maurice Johannes. He has a good look around your mouth and talks possible options. What I really liked was the computer imaging they use to show you what your smile would look like after veneers.
The thing that made me believe that The Harley Street Smile really cares about their patients and are not all about the money was the fact that during the online consultation I was told I probably needed 10 veneers, in the actual consultation he said I only needed 8 veneers which is obviously considerably less money. I think this shows that they really are doing what's best for you and not what's more profitable for them!
Ok, so after the consultation I was so happy that I decided to go ahead and book the treatment right there and then. Normally you would need altogether four trips to the clinic
1: consultation
2: take impressions
3: preparing the teeth and temporary veneers
4: fitting veneers
I decided to have the impressions taken straight after my consultation, which actually saved me spending the £75 on the consultation. Also, living in Wales and travelling to London is not that cheap so as little trips as possible was best for me. I decided upon the home whitening treatment, which was considerably cheaper than the laser whitening that they offer. I was told that I would have the same results so it was a bit of a no brainer for me.
Whitening was a bit of a pain to be honest, for 2 weeks I had to sit for an hour a day with a gum shield on with horrible tasting bleach... but even if you do laser whitening you have to go through this phase for a week too! I had to have a week off inbetween my whitening phase, as my wisdom tooth decided to go crazy and made my face and gum swollen so the gum shield wouldn't fit lol, not sure whether this affected the final result or not, but my teeth were A LOT whiter!
This picture shows my teeth after whitening, but before any other treatment...
I was so exited to get underway with the actual treatment. I'm not a nervous patient at all so went to the clinic feeling fine! Dr Maurice is really friendly and puts you at ease. He sat me down and talked me through exactly what was going to be done and made sure I felt fine and happy to go ahead. The treatment strarted with a numbing cream to ease the pain of the 8 injections I had to have in each gum, it worked really well and only felt the first 1 or 2 injections and they didn't hurt at all. (Again needles don't phase me at all) After the local anasthetic starts to work your face feels HUGE and I mean you feel like silicone has been injected into your lips! He checks to see your completely numb then starts the treatment. He talked me through every single thing he was doing, and made it clear that he would stop at any time if I wanted. This phase is mainly shaving down your teeth; I didn't feel a thing! There was lots of 'scary' noises coming from the drill, but as long as I didn't feel any pain I didn't care! I also had gum sculpting, which is done with a laser. Again this didn't hurt, but it smelt pretty horrid haha! After the drilling was complete impressions were taken and then the temporary veneers were fitted. During this phase I chose the colour for my real veneers too, which was exiting!
This picture shows the temporary veneers.
These took a lot of getting used to, I absoluetly loved the way they looked but they felt super chunky in my mouth as these are kind of like dentures. It is just one piece, so you can't floss or anything. They didn't feel very nice either; you know when you have dirty teeth, that feel thick with plaque... well this is what these felt like. They also stain very easily as the plastic just absorbs colour, so that meant no curry, red wine or food with strong colouring. I wore these for 2 weeks, these are a 'trial run' so if there is anything you don't like about the shape or size you can get that changed for your real veneers. I loved the way they looked though, so didn't change anything. Toward the end of the two weeks my temporary veneers started to go a bit more yellow; the fact that I drink about 20 cups of tea every day didn't help!
This picture shows the final veneers.
I am absolutely IN LOVE with my new teeth! The final phase was fitting the real veneers. I had to go through the injections and numbness again. Taking off the temporary veneers was kind of scary.. there was lots of drilling, banging, tugging.. but there was no pain involved at all! Dr Maurice put these on with a paste first, just to show me what they would look like before making them permanent and I absolutely loved them so he went ahead and put them on properly! Again, Dr Maurice was brilliant and talked me through every phase and made me feel totally at ease! A bit of shaving and polishing was done to get rid of any left over glue that was stuck to my teeth. I am so SO happy with the outcome! My new smile is absolutely amazing!
The veneers feel like my own teeth, they're smooth and shiny.. I can eat whatever I like as they don't stain. They feel perfect in my mouth. The temporary ones felt abnormal, but these feel like they're meant to fit there if you get what I mean.
I paid just over £5000 which I think is a brilliant price compared to other clinics. I know The Harley Street Smile Clinic offer a finance option to pay, but I can't comment on that as I just lent the money off my mother, so I won't have to pay any interest etc.
I would recommend this clinic and Dr Maurice Johannes to anyone and everyone. I have not one bad word to say at all! I love that there was no 'hidden costs' or any pressure to do anything.. I really think the pictures speak for themselves at how amazing this clinic is. I absolutely LOVE smiling now, and use any reason to smile.. even if there is no reason I smile anyway haha!
Hope you enjoyed this review, and found it helpful if your thinking of having veneers. If you want to ask me any other questions, just go ahead :) Also The Harley Street Smile Clinic has a twitter account too if you want any quick questions answered.
P.s... If you do decide to e-mail Jill, include a picture of your teeth and what you don't like about your smile. Here's a direct link to the free online consultation page.
