As a cosmetic dentist of 22 years experience I have a lot of different types of dental treatment under my belt, but cosmetic dentistry was the most fulfilling.
When I started in 1989 I was wet behind the ears but I had a fully loaded dental drill.
We were taught at Guys Hospital how to do crowns and veneers on patients and in fact in the early days as an associate I was termed the veneer king.
My principal was quite taken a back at my work load and profitability but asked me to slow down.
Now in those days and even on the NHS we were allowed to provide multiple crowns and veneers.
We were happily providing celebrity teeth/veneers on the NHS and for free!
I had even done cases with 16-20 full crowns on the NHS.

I then progressed to private practice in London and continued to do smile makeovers round about the time that "10 Years Younger " was being televised.
I ran a cosmetic practice in Harley st and also rented out some sessions to another cosmetic dentist.
I remember one day passing by to see him but he was busy talking to a blonde "patient".
Then one day my surgery was televised on the "10 years younger" programme, but I was not the dentist being featured. It was my cosmetic dentist tenant.
I was really jealous as I had missed a great marketing opportunity.
Some of the reasons that I had not been featured were:
a) he was more handsome?
b) did more schmoozing with the media?
c) I had by then stopped doing veneers and crowns

Now you may ask why would I stop doing something that was bringing me £20K every month in those days?
Well I had being doing smile makeovers for a very long time and the next step in my evolution was to get some US training under my belt.
So I looked up the dentist to the stars in New York. I googled him but what I got was baddentist.com.
I was appalled that a patient would be so aggrieved by a dentist that he/she would set up a website!
This NY dentist was doing what we were all doing....shaving off lots of enamel and dentine to provide the space for beautiful crowns/veneers.
He was however taking off much more than usual, but was promising veneers like baby's finger nails. He was suggesting minimum preparations but was a bit too heavy handed.
I was shocked and then I thought about what I was doing.

Patients were coming from all over the country to see me and they wanted beautiful, white, straight teeth and all within 2 weeks.
I was providing veneers and crowns because patients did not want metal braces.
I was very successful but also stressed.
I had to correct dental crowding/ spacing with porcelain veneers.
I had to prepare the teeth in 2 hours and then take impressions and place temporaries.
Once that enamel was removed, it was not coming back.
Despite the success of my practice I was not happy with what I was doing.
Top prove a point, what did I have slightly goofy teeth and not had braces? Why was I not wearing porcelain veneers?
The reason was that I did not like the appearance of braces and I certainly was not going to damage my teeth.
After much soul searching I said adios to "10 years younger" and auf widersehen to Cosmetic Dentistry.

It was just by chance that an orthodontist had invited me to an open evening and was busy selling to me his wares when he mentioned Invisalign. A clear, nearly invisible system of aligners that straighten teeth.
I thought this would allow me to create beautiful smiles without damaging the teeth.
I enrolled on the course and started Invisalign procedures in 2004.
In the next blog I will tell you of my initial experiences with Invisalign.