I felt conflicted after my dental lamination 🫤🤍 My REAL Thoughts… [MORE in description]

Video Description

I’ve talked about the main benefits, but these are my real thoughts… I never had a problem with my original teeth actually, and made an effort to keep them in pretty good condition, especially in my late 20s and early 30s 🦷🪥 this is where I realized a lot of things I took for granted started to catch up to me in terms of dental health. I’ve had a bunch of fillings (8 to be exact), they were also very sensitive towards the gumline (which my dentist told me was also starting to recede), making them develop cavities at the gumline, so I had them filled there too. Apart from that, aesthetically, they were fine to me. So when I went to Korea to learn more about beauty treatments & services, I didn’t realize what the specific steps were until I was in the chair doing it! Although dental lamination is a ‘minimal prep’ procedure (which is much better than ordinary veneers where a majority of your teeth is grinded away), it was still a permanent change. Unlike braces (which I had in my teens), invisalign, or whitening, with services like those, you have time to mentally and physically adjust to the changes. But with veneers or dental lamination, it’s performed so quickly that I didn’t have time to really process any changes, and it was done. This is what I think led to this prolonged period of ‘acceptance’ of my new look. Versus, people who have long been unhappy with their teeth, or have already thought through extensively fixing their teeth. My brain felt like it didn’t have time to process–it knew how ‘you’ looked your whole life, and suddenly overnight it’s different. Imagine the shock.... So I felt quite conflicted the weeks after it, and the only way I can explain it was that I didn’t mentally prepare to say goodbye to my previous teeth, smile, look. With any change, there is almost like a mourning process. And I was thinking about how the features and traits given to us are what ties us to our heritage, our family and ancestors. It’s what makes us uniquely “us”, and presents our unique beauty to the world. Also something to highlight is that this is a permanent treatment and something that you will have to take care of for the rest of your life, which is no small thing. Although the care is pretty much the same (maybe even easier), I think any treatment/service that permanently alters your appearance is something we should give ample time to consider. To weigh the pros and cons, and also give yourself time as you grow to see if it’s still something you care about in 5-10 years later. Like a tattoo. You might be really into it one day, and then be over that phase–but it’s permanent (ofc less permanent than surgery, but you know what I mean) In saying all this, the benefits are also definitely there. For example, they were able to fix my cross-bite (which was actually making my jaw crooked and unleveled), they could tell me my masseter muscle was weaker on the left so I should take care of that, it fixed my hyper-sensitivities to hot and cold, my gums aren’t inflammed–so there are indeed quite a lot of pluses too. I was also lucky to have quite thick and healthy enamel to sustain any changes and still retain a lot. And this is super important because teeth and dental health is SO important, especially as you age. Your gums can get thinner, which will cause teeth to move. And so taking care of everything is super important, no matter what age you are. Don’t start late and assume it’ll be fine like I did, because bad habits will catch up. So with all this said, these were the swirling thoughts I was coming to terms with and accepting in the weeks and months following the procedure. I’m thankful they did such an amazing job–they’re truly detail oriented professionals who will actually give you not just aesthetic, but also orthodontic advice for long-term health–but it’s important to tell the full story. That’s an important thing to note, the team at Smile studios are also orthodontists, and she was telling me some places only do aesthetics, which means it’s not always good for you health wise in the long run, but they are both. So she also gave me advice on taking care of my masseter muscles etc. So for anyone who’s thinking about changing anything permanent, like teeth, face, body etc., my message isn’t to tell to do it or not. But I would say our body is truly a temple, so if you can wait to see if it’s something you truly want then let time help you determine what’s right for you and not just a ‘phase’, do your research and get opinions on both sides, because our bodies and minds are constantly growing and changing. Whoever is still reading, I want to remind you that you’re beautiful, worthy, and deserving, my beauties. xo