Smile Makeover · San Ramon
Planned as one thing, not a treatment at a time
The difference between a smile makeover and several separate procedures is that someone decided the order.
Who this is for
- Several things bother you and you are not sure where to start
- Previous cosmetic work that no longer matches the teeth around it
- A wedding, a milestone, or a professional change coming up
- You want to understand the options before committing to anything
Sequence is most of the value
Whitening comes before anything that gets shade-matched, because porcelain and composite cannot be whitened afterwards. Gum contouring comes before impressions, so the porcelain is designed to the final gumline. Orthodontics comes before veneers, because moving a tooth is cheaper than rebuilding it.
Get that order wrong and you pay twice. Most of the disappointing cosmetic work we see was not badly executed — it was executed in the wrong sequence, one procedure at a time, each decided in isolation.
It usually costs less than people expect
Because a proper plan very often needs less than the piecemeal version. A great many consultations end with whitening plus bonding on two teeth, when the patient arrived expecting to be quoted for eight veneers.
Our default is the most conservative option that gets you the result you want. If bonding will do it, we do bonding. That is not us being cautious with your money for the sake of it — it is that removing enamel is irreversible and there is no getting it back.
What the consultation involves
We start by asking what specifically bothers you, and we ask you to be concrete. Not "I hate my smile" but "this tooth is darker" or "these two are uneven." Almost always it is two or three specific things, not the whole thing.
Then photographs, and we look at them together on a screen. Seeing your own smile at that size is a strange experience, but it is the fastest way to agree on what we are actually solving.
You leave with a written plan, in order, with each stage priced and a realistic timeline. No decision on the day.
What to expect
Here’s how the visit actually goes.
No surprises. That’s the whole idea.
01
The conversation
What bothers you, in your words. We do not start with what we could sell.
02
Photographs
Reviewed together on screen. This is where most of the agreement happens.
03
The written plan
Sequenced, priced stage by stage, with timings. Yours to take away and think about.
04
A trial where it helps
For anything substantial we can mock the shape up so you see it before it is permanent.
05
Stage by stage
Usually over a few months. Most of that is the waiting between stages, not chair time.
Questions
Answered before you ask.
Do I have to do everything at once?
No, and most people do not. A plan sequenced over a year is completely normal, and knowing the whole sequence is what stops one stage undermining another.
Will it look obvious?
Not if it is done conservatively and matched properly. The giveaway on poor cosmetic work is uniformity — identical, flat-white, identically shaped teeth. Real teeth vary, and we build that variation in deliberately.
What if I only want one thing fixed?
Then that is what we will do. Not every cosmetic patient needs a plan; plenty need one chipped edge bonded and nothing else.
Is any of it covered by insurance?
Cosmetic work generally is not. Where a treatment has a genuine functional component — a broken tooth that needs a crown — that part may be. We will separate the two clearly on the estimate.
In their words
Thirty years of families who stayed.
Every quote below is a patient's own, unedited, from our reviews.
“We LOVE LOVE LOVE Avalon Dental! Dr. B is the best dentist we’ve ever gone to”
Cassondra H. “Dr B. always does a great job and you don’t feel the work getting done”
Marie T. “The staff always make my experiences with them the best and most comfortable”
Rebecca C.