Dr. Victoria Veytsman x New Beauty on A Patient's Smile Makeover

Foreign.

Hi, Carolyn. How are you?

Well, thank you.

Nice to meet you.

Very nice to meet you.

You're coming to us from Dr. Victoria Betzman's practice, and she is a celebrity dentist, cosmetic dentist in New York. And your smile looks amazing.

Thank you.

So we'd love to hear more about it. What made you decide it was time to get a smile makeover?

My teeth were yellowing quite extensively, and I had chipped front teeth. I had bonding that was done. And my front teeth were disproportionate at the time. And I really felt that it was time to do something because my husband passed away, and naturally I'm going to be dating again. So, yeah, online dating apps require quite a bit of image that are put up there, so I figured it was time, and so I came in to have a consultation with Dr. V. I'm.

Sorry to hear about your husband, and you look amazing. So. And I know that has to give you that extra confidence boost, especially if you're going putting yourself out there again. So can you walk us through what concerns you were having before the procedure and how you felt about your smile before your smile makeover?

Well, I definitely didn't smile at all before the smile makeover. And that was something that I used to be known for. People used to stop me and say, oh, my God, Carolyn, you're so happy. You smile all the time. And I'm a teacher, so my students noticed, and they said, is everything okay? Are you feeling okay, Mrs. B? So I decided that it really was something that I needed to do. I wasn't confident anymore in social interactions, so I decided that I would come in for a consultation. And I did. And Dr. Weitzman was absolutely amazing. She was very concerned about the health of my teeth, as well as how they were going to look and my bite. So all of that really gave me the confidence in Dr. Weitzman and her staff. They were just so warm, inviting, welcoming. It's been the most incredible experience that I have ever had. It's amazing.

And so part of your treatment was getting porcelain restorations or veneers. Right.

Most of mine was crowns, some restorations redone. I had very, very old restorations. So it was. My whole mouth was rejuvenated. I did my entire mouth. So it's so exciting. And I'm just thrilled, absolutely thrilled.

And how many visits did it take overall?

I think I came in three times for two days each for the work to be done. So they did. We did the top first, and then we did the bottom in a couple of sessions. I had other work that needed to be done as well, so mine case took a little bit longer because I had to have a couple of root canals and things like that. But normally people wouldn't have to have something like that.

And what, what was it like when you first saw your results and your new smile?

Pure elation. I basically was like, I'm so excited. I haven't stopped smiling. It has made me so confident. My carriage of myself, the hopefulness, looking forward. It's. It's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. I didn't think it would be this positive at all.

Um, and what is it? Do you have advice for anyone who's been thinking about it? Or maybe they think like, you know, those days are over, you know, I don't. I'm not going to pay attention to my smile or, you know, you know, once you pass a certain age, you shouldn't think about that.

What.

What's your advice?

Absolutely not. I'm 64, and I would say go for it. You know, it's something that I wanted to do for a while. I researched it for about two years to make sure that I made the correct choice in dentist, which I absolutely did. But I would say go for it because it has made such a huge difference. I'm so thankful, thankful for the health of my teeth because this would have been done piecemeal and I would have ended up with these very, very yellow teeth being done piecemeal, and it would have all gotten done anyhow. So I just took the leap and got the color that I wanted as well and the happiness that goes with it. So I would say absolutely, go for it.

And what made you choose Dr. Weitzman?

Well, I'm originally from New York, and so I know a lot of people here in New York, and I heard very, very good reviews from Dr. Weitzman. There's a couple of other dentists here in New York as well, and I know her credentials, so she has excellent credentials.

Yeah.

And it was basically, I came for a consultation just to see how I felt coming into the office and knowing that she is a celebrity dentist. I was concerned that there would be a little bit of, you know, too much chi chi type thing.

Right.

But it isn't. It just. They're very, very warm, very, very welcoming. I never had any problems asking any questions. I felt totally comfortable. So when she said that she was concerned about the health of my teeth as well, that's what really sold me. I was like, this is the person.

I also think I love her.

Work.

And I think every smile I've ever seen that she's worked on looks so natural.

Yes.

And I think that's so important. Yeah, absolutely. Wonderful. So how has your, you know, have you. How long have you had your smile transformation?

Well, I had the bottom done for the past three weeks, and we just finished the top yesterday, so it's. I haven't stopped smiling. I keep looking at myself in the mirror, walking along the streets here in Manhattan, and I'm just. It's wonderful. The carriage of my whole personality is just so positive and very, very hopeful for the future. It's made an entire difference in the way I feel about myself.

Well, I have to say, you're glowing, so I'm glad that you feel renewed. And you look beautiful.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us.

Thank you. Have a great day.

You, too. Now we're going to talk to Dr. Weitzman.

Okay, I'll send her in.

Hi, Dr. Weitzman. How are you?

Hi, Tatiana. I'm good. How are you? So nice to see you.

So nice to see you. Carolyn, your patient looks incredible. She's glowing from the inside out, and her smile looks so natural.

So, yeah, she. She is such a star. She was always beautiful and glowing, but this just kind of elevated everything. She's such a star.

So I'd love to know a little bit about her case and what were some of the concerns that she was treating. And also, if you could explain. What are porcelain restorations? Are those veneers?

Yeah. So when Carolyn came in a couple of months ago, her main concerns were the color of her smile, chipping over old restorations that are kind of starting to fall apart. This is something that she had been thinking about doing for a while. These are issues that we see commonly as our smile ages. You know, the smile is one of the first places where aging shows up. So we were seeing a loss of vertical dimension, not just in the teeth, but in the lower third of her face as well. So, you know, our main concerns will really, you know, not just the smile, but we really rejuvenate the entire face with a smile. And porcelain restorations follow. You know, there are a couple of things that are. We call porcelain restorations, one of those being veneers, the other one being crowns. Porcelain ridge work as well. In Carolyn's case, we utilized all of the three, and the goal is to kind of integrate the different types of restorations seamlessly so that they all look good together and look like the same type of restoration. Porcelain is really just a type of glass material that mimics tooth structure and is able to transmit light very well. The porcelain restorations that we use, a lot of these are handcrafted layer by layer, and we're really able to build in a lot of nuances when it comes to shape, color, how these transmit light, which is really important. It's all about how the light hits and reflects on the teeth. Yeah, those are. That's what porcelain restorations are. Those were her main concerns. It wasn't just the smile. We have to not be too myopic when we look at smile makeovers. We have to really consider the entire face.

And she talks a lot about oral health, too. So is that a big part of your assessment?

Yeah, there were so many. There are so many layers to this. I believe that health is really the foundation of everything. Health is the foundation of beauty when it comes to our body and our smiles. So in taking on these kinds of cases, this is not just a complete cosmetic endeavor. We're really trying to set up the mouth foundationally from a health perspective, not just from a health perspective. Like when we talk about, you know, replacing old restorations, making sure there's no decay, making sure the gum tissue is nice and healthy, but also from a functional standpoint. So when we look at cases like this, some of the things that we have to consider are balancing the aesthetics that we're planning with function. Right. So, you know, creating a pretty smile is probably the easiest part of most of these cases, of most of these full mouth reconstruction cases. It's really the function and the longevity that we have to take into account. So balancing the aesthetics and the function, I would say, is one of the biggest considerations. Balancing the esthetics with health, like you had mentioned, that, I would say is a priority as well. So we're just looking to create a pretty smile. It's very easy to just like, you know, put veneers on teeth and hope for the best. But we really have to make sure that what we're doing is creating a solid foundation for longevity for her health. We all know that there's a huge correlation between oral health and systemic health. So in doing these cases, we like to take a, like a 360 holistic view from a couple of viewpoints. So one is from an aesthetic standpoint, when we're designing the smile, we're looking at the entire face. You know, we call dental facial aesthetics. So we're really trying to harmonize the smile of the face. Great simple symmetry, create balance, but also a 360, holistic perspective when it comes to, well, how is the health of the smile now affecting systemic health? Right. We all know about the oral gut axis and, you know, the oral gut brain axis and all the correlations between oral health and cardiovascular health, brain health. There are just so many correlations there. So it's really important to take that into consideration. And then also lastly, but equally as important, the correlation between, you know, achieving that confident smile and emotional health and confidence, you know, so there are so many things that we have to consider and take into account when we're planning these.

What advice do you have for anyone who is considering a smile makeover? But maybe they think, well, you know, I'm older, I. I don't need it. It's for aesthetics. You know, what. What's your best advice?

Yeah, you know, that is such an interesting question. I learned so much from our patients, and I'm particularly interested in their why, as with anything else, like, what is the patient's motivation for doing this procedure when they come see us? Most of our patients are female, ranging from the ages of 17 to 77. So we hear all kinds of stories. You know, while we try to be as conservative as possible, in all cases, I would say if there's a reason, an underlying reason to do it, there's no upper or lower age limit, as long as medically and dentally it's a viable. It's viable to do clinically, we don't look at age as a number per se. We look at age based on how the patient presents. So, for instance, looking at it from the other, the flip side of the coin, you know, we've had patients come in in their 20s, and if you looked at a photo of their smile without their face, you may assume that they're in their face.

Right.

And so we don't really look at the smile as a number. We look at it as how the patient is presenting. How is this affecting their life? Aesthetics for us and for me is really just an entry point to confidence helps and also further transformation in that person's life. I mean, people come in and I wish we could divulge and share more, but there are just so many stories that people come in with, with their motivations, and I find that intensely interesting. You know, like, yeah, be overcoming an illness or disease, and now this is their next chap or a divorce or starting a new venture or a new job. So oftentimes the smile is. I see it as, yes, this is what I do all day. I. This is what I love doing. But there are so many, so many, so many layers to this. And now I don't think it's ever too late. I talk about anti aging dentistry all the time, and you could do that at any age. I mean, I've done smile makeovers on patients in their. Because their smile really kind of aged their face and that we saw so much increased confidence with that, you know, and health too. You know, there are so many things that we do when we do smile makeovers when we plan out these cases, and a lot of planning involved to achieve the result that we want. We. The first thing that I look at is what, what are the underlying issues here that we have to take care of?

Wonderful. And what do, what is the most rewarding part about working on these smile makeover cases?

Yeah, so for me as a cosmetic dentist, there's, there's so many rewarding parts to this. On a personal level, you know, having gone to art school growing up, the artistry of it to me, and I happen to focus on portraiture, so I'm fascinated by the face and all the nuances of the face. On a personal level, the artistry of it for me is very gratifying. Having to see, seeing that immediate result, being involved in that whole entire design process. But beyond that, you know, just the transformative process that patients allow us to partake in with them is privilege in our practice. And on a personal level too, I really believe that we, and I've learned this throughout my own life, that we have the ability to choose the life that we want. We have the ability to choose how we want to show up in the world, how we want to present ourselves. And being part of that journey with people, seeing the confidence just flourish, going from self consciousness to self confidence, where these people have lived with these vulnerabilities and insecurities their entire life and then watching them vanish and how personalities transform, how people are really able to show up as their best selves. And that is often a starting point for so many other things that to me is really, really gratifying. And the fact that patients trust us to go along on that journey with them. You know, we're honored every time a patient does that. So, yeah, there's, there's, there's so many, there's so many gratifying parts to it.

I love the correlation between art and dentistry because I do look at, I look at, I've seen your before and afters in there. It is, it's like art. And sometimes we talk about like undetectable plastic surgery. Sometimes I see smiles, and I'm like, wow, that is such good work that you don't even know it's work. So.

And thank you, Tatiana. And I think that's the key, really, is to create something that feels natural to the patient, that is seamless, that is undetectable. And the nice thing, too, is with what we do, not only are we, you know, I would like to hope, play a role in this patient's confidence and transformation and all of that, but really promoting, you know, systemic health and, you know, they're just. Just, just ushering them into the next phase or chapter of their life. It's really such a beautiful thing to see.

Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for speaking with New Beauty today and sharing your gorgeous patient with us.

She looks incredible. She's. Thank you.

I love seeing her just smiling through the interview. So, yes, that's the best result, right?

Oh, my God. Literally, that is. That is the only and biggest thank you that we ask for. Just. I always tell patients when we. When we finish their smile makeovers, the only thing you I ask for is just keep smiling.

Yeah, I love that. Well, thank you again. Thanks so much.

Great to see you.

Great to see you, too.