My Smile Journey w/ Freedom Dental

Introducing my amazing dentist…Freedom Dental!

In the spirit of always keeping things real, I want to chat to you about something close and personal to me - my smile! Now, have you ever seen me smile with my teeth (up until recently of course!)? If you have, then you probably caught me slipping because I always, always, ALWAYS hid my smile, covering it with my hand while laughing and all the other usual tricks when you’re self-conscious about your chompers.

Around a month ago, I had my veneers done and I couldn’t be happier! My lovely dentist - Freedom Dental based in Southbank, Melbourne - who I have been very close with for years have taken me on a smile journey from achieving healthy teeth to now a beautiful confident smile with natural looking veneers (after pictures to come soon!). I cant wait to share with you my experience with veneers, and hopefully be helpful in your own smile journey. Trust me - it’s been the best decision I have ever made!

A little history…

Let’s chat teeth. Thanks to my many years of chewing on ice cubes as a teenager (did anyone else used to do this? After a bit of research I found out it was a symptom of anaemia (which I definitely had!) - how weird!), I was left with chipped teeth that gave the appearance of unevenness. Fast forward a couple of years, and I researched and thought to myself that Invisalign would be a great option for me to straighten out my teeth. With this in mind, I set out to find a dentist!

The Lead Up

As some of you may know, I’m one picky human being - so recommendations from friends and seeing what was local wasn’t enough, I had to go out and research on my own & read up on which dental practices were the best in Melbourne. Enter Freedom Dental! Upon setting foot in Freedom Dental many many years ago, the atmosphere of the practice is very similar to a spa - gentle music, beautiful candles, an open, bright layout to the rooms (with an amazing garden feature), and the kindest staff. I instantly felt comfortable and at ease, something Freedom Dental pride themselves on.

Back to my teeth, in order to achieve beautiful teeth, healthy teeth is a must (say teeth one more time haha!). My dentists Dr. John (Owner of Freedom Dental) and Dr. Boon (my fave!) were amazing at bringing my smile up to scratch and ensuring my teeth were healthy & ready for any cosmetic work. I cannot stress enough what great dentists Dr. John and Dr. Boon are - I’ve never met more kind and professional dentists ever! Do you know how people always go on about hating the dentist/being scared? CAN’T RELATE! I cannot recommend them enough.

During this time, my boyfriend Sam was going through the Invisalign process. It was working amazingly for him and his teeth, and his results ended up being unreal (his teeth look beautiful now!). A few things stuck out to me while watching Sam go through his smile journey - Invisalign aligners need to be worn 22 hours of the day (and should only be taken out when eating), you need to go back and forth to the dentist to change aligners every couple of weeks, the process can take upwards of a year to get the results you’re after, and as Sam has mentioned it’s slightly uncomfortable when your teeth are adjusting to the tight moulds. Now Sam is a very disciplined guy - so this process was easy for him - however for someone like myself, who is constantly having to take photos and be in the public eye, this sounded like a whole lotta work (for my lazy ass haha!), a bit of pain and a lot of time. It just goes to show one process may work amazingly for one person, but not fit the lifestyle of another. So it’s time to think differently…

Why Veneers?

So I was now at a point in time where my smile was completely healthy. But I still never consciously smiled - never in pictures and I would always cover my mouth when laughing (what a negative vibe!). Invisalign wasn’t for me, so maybe whitening my smile would be an improvement? It definitely made a difference and Freedom Dental were amazing at making sure I was comfortable throughout the entire treatment - my smile looked fresh and it was a great step forward but under all of it, I was still self-conscious smiling and talking. After noticing everything I was going through to create improvements in my smile, the team at Freedom Dental recommended porcelain veneers to me (something I only dreamed of getting!). After a few chats back and forth, I was convinced! Veneers were exactly what I needed to achieve a beautiful smile, with minimal down time and minimal to no pain. The excitement was real!

The Goal

Let’s talk smile goals and what I wanted to achieve. Put simply = straight, beautiful teeth, and a widened smile. As easy as that haha! Overall, I wanted to be confident having conversations with everyone and ultimately learn to smile in photos (I’m getting there!). I wanted to be able to take photos & record videos for work without looking back at myself and cringing at how uneven my smile looked. And of course, I wanted beautiful candid photos smiling with my friends and family. With all this in mind, I was ready to chat to Dr. John at Freedom Dental about my treatment and start the process of getting veneers - which I’ll talk in much more detail in my next blog post, so stayed tuned!