How many of us do not dream of a real "Hollywood smile"? Snow-white, smooth, beautiful? Modern dentistry offers numerous ways to improve teeth - from elementary whitening to permanent prosthetics.
However, there are real stars among dentists who own such unique technologies that can change not only a smile, but the whole look of a face. Meet Dr. Michael Apa, a dentist from New York who has made happy more than a dozen Hollywood celebrities (yes, yes, and they are not Gods) and now from time to time provides his services to residents of the Middle East in his own clinic in Dubai.
Michael, you are positioning yourself not just as a dentist, but as a "stylist or couturier with extensive experience in dentistry." Why?
Elementary. I’m not just making perfectly straight teeth so that you can chew cookies with them, but creating new smiles and faces of people. My global ambitious plan is to see as many happy and beautiful smiling people around me. It seems to me that Dubai is a city in some ways very similar to New York. Representatives of almost all countries of the world live and work in it, so it is very interesting for me as a specialist to work in this market and give people joy. If you analyze my practice in New York, you will see that today my partner and I are the most successful dentists in this metropolis. Just two doctors! And from those who want to get to us there is no end. We produce the largest number of dental products, if you may call it that, in the USA. Moreover, we have opportunities and ready-made programs for training other specialists in the field of aesthetic dentistry.
What is the secret and your main difference from others?
The fact that we offer not just prosthetics, but a special Facial Aesthetic Design technology, which helps us to correct even the oval and shape of the patient’s face with the help of correctly made veneers. I work a lot, I can carry out up to four prosthetics operations per day, and this is not about working with only four teeth, but about changing the appearance of twenty or more teeth that are visible with a smile.
What smiles are in fashion today, and why have people been so preoccupied with their look in recent decades?
I think that the massive advertising campaigns of brands such as Crest or Oral-B, telling about tooth whitening and how to simply get a beautiful snow-white smile, did their job, having settled in people's minds the idea that real beauty is not only from fashionable clothes, and opening the door to the world of aesthetic dentistry. The second is ultra-modern research and the highest technologies that allow doctors, prosthetists, and patients to get a beautiful, but not artificial, but natural smile. Such smiles are in fashion today. Previously, all the "smiles" when prosthetics were made according to one pattern, so people, striving for perfection, looked like each other. This went to someone, but not to someone, because the shape of the jaws and teeth of everyone is different from nature, and with improper prosthetics they could change a person's face beyond recognition.
Therefore, today I create "imperfect ideal smiles." And this is a fashion trend! Especially for those who think about the future and how his face will look in old age.
And third, these are the new social relationships of people. Today it is simply unrealistic and even simply indecent for a respectable and well-to-do man, dressed in a suit from Armani or Brioni, to have uneven and ugly teeth with a dark coating that gives him a coffee or cigarette lover. Believe me, even the usual whitening of tooth enamel can change a person’s appearance for the better. But any problem must be approached comprehensively and not only the color, but also the size of the teeth, even their thickness, should be considered.
In the States, you work with Hollywood stars, and who are your patients in the Dubai clinic?
The most different people. Among them are representatives of the ruling families of the Gulf countries, who find it easier to drive up to me in Dubai than to fly to New York. In addition, there are patients from various countries, either wealthy people or employed in public professions - models, television presenters, showmen. All those who need to constantly be in public.
Today, more and more young people aged 15-18 come to us. They want to be beautiful and confident not tomorrow, but now!
And I want to say that at this age it is much easier to restore the symmetry of the face with the help of tooth correction and the shape of the jaw.
In fact, the faces of all people are asymmetrical ...
Well yes. Only for some, this asymmetry is not striking, while for others it simply does not allow a normal and full life. Incidentally, I like that we are talking about this. You are the first journalist to address these aspects of aesthetic dentistry in your interview. Thank!
You are welcome. Have you had any Russian patients? What do they want?
The same as everyone else. Most often, occlusion correction and alignment of teeth that grow "saw". There were, of course, funny stories, when the patient who pumped her lips with gel wanted the front teeth to still be visible from under the upper lip. We had to make veneers on two front incisors 17 (!) Mm long. But these are isolated cases. Usually everyone is interested in beautiful proportions of the face and the ability to smile openly and without hesitation. I can help with this, for sure.
How much are your services, if not secret, of course?
Not a secret. The average cost of one veneer is four thousand dollars, that is, when we talk about working on the full jaw, which takes two sessions, each lasting 2-3 hours, we need to rely on a budget of about 80 thousand. And that’s it!
Well, not so cheap, but what are the results. Thanking Michael and saying goodbye to him until we meet again, I decided to invite you to the world of haute couture smiles performed by New York's leading dentist, Dr. Apa, in his clinic on Al Wasle Road in Dubai.
