I have been a dental assistant for 10 years now. My job is both challenging and rewarding. Even after 10 years I’m still amazed how cosmetic dentistry and transforming a smile gives patients back their confidence. There is an old saying, “the eyes are the pathway to a person’s soul”, in my experience, the smile is the pathway to a person’s voice and confidence.

I have been a dental assistant for 10 years now. My job is both challenging and rewarding. Even after 10 years I’m still amazed how cosmetic dentistry and transforming a smile gives patients back their confidence.

One day, a young woman came into our office wanting to learn more about dental veneers. She had heard that there are many different options that can help with her smile. She explained to us that for years she had not smiled. We saw that when she laughed, she covered her mouth. The young woman continued to explain that she has felt very insecure for a long time and would now like to have her smile back. When she was younger, she dealt with eating disorders that had damaged her teeth. Now that she was better, she was ready to have her smile back.

After explaining to her that we could restore her smile with dental veneers you could immediately see the relief in her face. She was really excited and wanted to get started right away. We took the necessary records and scheduled her for the following week.

On the day of preparing the teeth for the veneers, this young woman came in still covering her smile. She was excited, but there were lingering insecurities. When she left with the temporary veneers, you could already start to see the weight of years of insecurity begin to lift from her shoulders. Our patient already loved her temporary dental veneers and we explained to her the permanent dental veneers would look and feel even better. She could not wait for her final veneers to be back from the dental lab three weeks later.

Coming back for her final dental veneer appointment, our patient came in with excitement, but again with a hand covering her smile. After getting our patient comfortable with a blanket and movie glasses we began with the final stage of seating the dental veneers. We removed her temporaries and permanently cemented her veneers.

When it was time to show her, her final veneers and the new smile, she was speechless. All she could do was cry. After gaining her composure, she gave us all hugs and thanked us over and over again. We could feel her confidence returning rapidly. Not only did it seem that her insecurity was gone, you could feel her confidence. She instantly stood taller. She spoke without putting her hand over her mouth and she did not stop smiling.

It is the many patients we see that gain their confidence with a restored smile that make coming to work so enjoyable. Being a part of something that is life changing for one person is such a great experience. I get to see first-hand the transformation a restored smile gives people. A beautiful smile is truly the pathway to a person’s confidence.