The Commercial That Changed Everything & How Porcelain Veneers Ruined my Smile
It was 2003. I was 18, young and hopeful, with real teeth I didn’t think much about.
They were white, had a small childhood chip from a carnival ride, and a slight gap I never minded.
Then my mom saw a TV commercial featuring a dentist certified by the Las Vegas Institute.
A woman was interviewing Dr. RR, who praised porcelain veneers as an amazing solution to fix gaps and enhance your smile.
He described the procedure as simple and easy, making it sound like the perfect answer. It promised confidence and perfection. We thought it might help.
The dentist said veneers were the only option. No mention of composite. No alternatives. “You’ll need six for them to blend,” he told us.
In the office, he played a DVD comparing veneers to fake nails. His assistant showed one of hers and said she loved it.
He promised everything would be simple, quick, and natural. He downplayed the procedure and added, “You can’t go back to your old teeth, but why would you want to?”
I didn’t realize what that really meant. We paid $6,500 for 6 porcelain veneers. My aunt helped. I trusted him.
The Day My Natural Teeth Were Taken
So today was the day.
In October 2003, as a birthday gift, I was finally getting the smile I had always wanted. I walked into the dentist’s office excited, thinking this was it.
They were just going to fix the tiny chip from a childhood carnival accident. Everything else would stay the same. My natural teeth, my look, just slightly improved.
The dentist made it sound simple and easy. I trusted him.
But what happened next changed everything.
The prep appointment was traumatic. The sound of grinding. The burning smell. The pain. It’s something I’ll never forget.
One by one, my teeth were shaved down into small yellow stubs. The dentin was exposed, and I had never even heard of dentin until that moment. I walked out in shock.
My real teeth were gone.
They placed temporary veneers and told me not to eat anything solid until the finals were ready. I tried to stay calm and told myself it wasn’t that bad. I could wait.
When I went back to school, no one really noticed. A few people even said the temporaries looked good.
Then came the day the permanent veneers were placed. It was supposed to be the big reveal, but instead, it felt like everything fell apart.
When the final veneers were placed, they looked nothing like what I had been promised. They were bulky, too long, and obviously fake. My speech changed. My lips didn’t sit right. I could barely talk.
“You’ll get used to it,” the dentist said… But I never did.
In a moment of desperation, I even tried using a drill gun at home to take them off, but they were cemented so tightly I couldn’t budge them.
At school, people started making comments. My lip kept catching on the veneers. Some students asked what was stuck to my teeth. I lied and said they were just temporary.
But deep down I knew they were permanent. I stopped smiling. I avoided mirrors. I was crushed.
What was supposed to be a birthday gift had turned into something I would regret for 21 years.
I went back to the dentist and begged him to make changes. He did a little shaping and carving, but eventually shrugged and gave up.
“You paid a lot,” he said. “They look perfect.”
Then he told me to stop coming back and said I was complaining too much. I felt heartbroken and completely hopeless.
I had walked in with a tiny chip. I walked out with a permanent mask I couldn’t stand.
Porcelain Veneers, Round Two
I struggled all throughout college. My confidence was gone. I mentally struggled every day just to get through normal interactions.
I avoided social situations, barely spoke in class, and never smiled in photos. I felt like I was hiding something because I was. I couldn’t talk or smile without feeling ashamed of what had been done to my teeth.
My bite didn’t fit properly, and I constantly felt pressure inside the veneers. It was physically uncomfortable and mentally exhausting. Every time I tried to eat or speak, it reminded me that something was wrong. My mouth never felt at rest.
Most days, I stayed in my room. That’s when I taught myself how to play guitar. Music became my escape. It was one of the only things that brought me peace during that time.
The original dentist, as I mentioned, told me to stop coming back and said I was complaining too much.
He also said my college was too far for follow-up visits, even though it was only 45 minutes away.
I didn’t have the money to fix the veneers or even get basic adjustments. I felt completely stuck. Every time I looked in the mirror, I didn’t recognize myself. And no one around me truly understood what I was going through.
Eventually, I realized I couldn’t keep living like this. I had to try to fix it. That decision marked the beginning of my long journey to undo the damage.
Searching for a Solution No One Believed In
Over the next three to ten years, I searched endlessly. I called and emailed more than 100 dentists across the country, asking if they could remove the porcelain veneers and replace them with composite resin bonding.
Most said it wasn’t possible. Others asked why I would want to do that at all, insisting porcelain was better.
Through all of that, I learned how flawed the system really is. I discovered that the quality of the result often depends more on the dental lab than the dentist.
Patients never meet the lab technician, yet that person plays a major role in how the final smile turns out. This time, I knew I had to find a dentist who could do everything directly by hand, using resin composite.
Eventually, I found someone who gave me hope. Dr. Landers in Chicago said he could help. For the first time in years, I felt like there might be a way forward.
A Glimmer of Hope at Last
Finally, it was 2012 (almost 10 years later after the first procedure). I had graduated and saved up enough money to try again. This time, I was prepared. I had done my research and was determined to get it right.
It felt like a second chance. The dentist seemed kind and experienced. I flew to Chicago with hope that this time would be different. I met with Dr. Landers, who seemed confident he could help. We spoke several times, and he even gave me his cell phone number.
He called me once a week to check in, which made me feel supported. He explained the process clearly and said he was open to doing composite, though he still pushed porcelain as the better option.
He assured me that he would carefully remove the old veneers without damaging more of my natural tooth structure.
Everything seemed promising until he gave me the pricing. He quoted $23,000 for composite and $16,000 for porcelain. I didn’t understand how composite, which is done by hand, could cost more.
I felt overwhelmed, and eventually gave in. I told myself that if anyone could finally make porcelain work, it would be him.
Believing It Would Be Different This Time
Day of pre-prep:
I won’t go into the prep work again, but I remember how relieved I felt just having the old veneers removed.
The pressure they had put on my gums for years was intense. When they were finally ground off, it felt euphoric. I could breathe again.
Looking back, the temporaries weren’t great, but at the time they felt different from what I had been living with, so I was grateful for that brief moment of relief (image below temporaries in 2012)
Day of procedure:
This was my third visit. I had been flying back and forth to Chicago from Philadelphia on same-day trips, leaving at 5 a.m. and returning around 7 p.m. I was exhausted but hopeful. I was excited to finally see the finished veneers.
But when they came in, I was devastated.
This affected my speech and often led to canker sores, a common issue with the previous veneers that was not corrected. Most cosmetic dentists never address this, and even today you still see cases where they miss it, focusing only on the top teeth and lips
The lab had missed the mark again. The veneers were too long, too wide, and too white for my face. No matter how I tried to look at them, from any angle, they just didn’t look right. I felt crushed.
Dr. Landers said I couldn’t leave without at least something on my teeth, so we bonded the four front veneers.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the canines to blend with my smile. They bulged outward and looked completely unnatural. I knew this wasn’t going to be the solution I had hoped for.
I traveled back and forth to Chicago three more times, making it six visits in total. Each time, the porcelain veneers were sent back to the lab to be reshaped and resized, but they kept coming back the same. (image below 2013)
I was told this was normal and that porcelain veneers are meant to feel that way, and that I’d eventually adjust. But this was already my second experience with veneers, and I knew I couldn’t go through it again. That tooth wasn’t ground down for another five years, so I had to live with the discomfort the entire time.
Eventually, Dr. Landers, who had originally promised to use resin composite bonding on the two side teeth if porcelain didn’t work, never followed through.
I was devastated. I left the office with two teeth still exposed, but at that point, I didn’t even care.
I told him I was not looking for a refund, even when he offered to reimburse me for two of the teeth. The time he spent with me was meaningful and worth far more than the money.
Dr. Landers was a skilled and compassionate dentist. He truly cared and showed empathy throughout the process, but he was limited by the lab and the materials.
I just wish the composite option had been more affordable and that he had been able to take on my case fully. I have nothing but respect for him and wish him the very best.
Overall, I was relieved because these veneers were at least functional. I wasn’t completely happy, especially considering how much I had spent, and the costs kept adding up.
But looking back, it was still worth it just to get that first set removed (with as little tooth structure as possible), they were so bad that anything was an improvement.
The First to Truly Help: Dr. Andrew Kang
Then came 2017 — and Dr. Andrew Kang.
He was a friend of someone I met in college, and to this day, he remains one of the kindest and most genuine people I’ve ever known.
He would do anything to help someone. I was nervous to see him at first because of my long and painful history with dentistry, but he made it easy.
He truly listened. He didn’t say things like “once porcelain, always porcelain.” He didn’t talk about money or try to upsell anything. He understood the damage that had been done and genuinely wanted to help.
Over the next few years, he gradually removed four of my veneers and replaced them with composite resin. He never charged me. He just wanted to give me back some version of the smile I had lost.
Dr. Kang wasn’t in it for profit. He cared about people. And I’ll never forget that. During my visits every six months, he would carefully grind down a little more of the old material and continue restoring what he could.
The biggest challenge came when it was time to replace the front four. Dr. Kang could have tried, and maybe he would have done a good job, but he didn’t have the advanced composite materials or tools needed to make those teeth look as natural as possible.
He was focused on serving a community that needed low-cost care. He wasn’t a cosmetic dentist, he was a healer, a helper, a quiet force for good.
I owe him everything for getting me through those years with compassion and patience. He wouldn’t want his name in a headline or spotlight, but he’s a silent hero.
The Artist Who Rebuilt Me: Dr. Jordan Davis
I wasn’t done with my journey of getting all the porcelain off, but I was finally in a better place. I felt incredibly grateful for how far I had come and deeply appreciative of everything I had learned along the way.
Dr. Kang had helped pull me out of a very dark hole, and I would always be thankful for that. But now it was time to take the next step, to remove the remaining porcelain and finally move forward to go back and create what my original teeth looked like.
In 2024, everything changed. New technology had finally made it possible for some dentists to safely remove porcelain and rebuild smiles using enhanced composite resin. Two names kept coming up over and over again: Dr. Jordan Davis and Dr. Marshall Hanson.
No one really knows who started this movement, but both are widely recognized as pioneers in ethical, non-invasive smile restoration.
I had scheduled a video review with Dr. Hanson around the same time I booked a call with Dr. Jordan Davis. Dr. Hanson recorded a review based on my photos, but the audio didn’t work.
While I waited for him to resend the video, Dr. Davis’s office ended up moving up my consultation.
That timing changed everything.
Dr. Jordan Davis is the owner and CEO of Areté Smile Design, located at 2453 S. Wildcat Way, Suite A, Woods Cross, Utah. I first came across his work on Instagram and TikTok.
It wasn’t just that the results looked flawless, which they absolutely did. It was the way he spoke about porcelain.
He openly acknowledged the damage that porcelain veneers can cause when done on healthy teeth, and it was clear he truly understood what people like me had experienced.
He had a vision for something better, and I knew he was willing to think differently and step outside the norm to make it a reality.
I saw consistent improvement in his enhanced composite resin work and how natural his patients’ smiles looked, often nearly identical to their original teeth.
The level of care, precision, and detail he puts into each case is something I could talk about for days.
This is not a plug or a recommendation. Everyone should do their own research and make the decision that feels right for them. I am simply sharing my personal experience and how I got here. But I will say this.
In my opinion, Dr. Jordan Davis is one of the best dentists in the world.
I have spent 21 years researching this. I have spoken to hundreds, if not thousands, of dentists and carefully reviewed their work. Very few come close to what he is doing.
Initial Consultation with Dr. Jordan Davis
The process started when I filled out an online consultation form on Dr. Davis’s website.
I honestly didn’t expect to hear back, since so many offices never respond, but to my surprise, someone from their Office Operations team contacted me and scheduled a consultation about a month out.
Not long after, they called again with an earlier opening due to a cancellation. It felt like it was meant to be that I spoke with Dr. Davis instead of Dr. Hanson.
Janet, the office specialist, was on the call. I asked Dr. Davis everything I had been holding in for years. He told me we could get very close to recreating the look of my teeth when I was 18.
I actually believed him. I had been following his work and doing my research for over a year, and deep down I felt he was the right person.
Still, I wasn’t sure if I could mentally go through with it. Eventually, I spoke with Janet again, and she helped set up an affordable care payment plan so I could finally move forward.
The entire process was incredibly smooth, and I was genuinely impressed by the level of service and kindness from everyone at the office.
From start to finish, it was nothing like the rushed, impersonal experiences I had been through in the past. I was honestly shocked.
This wasn’t a pump-and-go porcelain veneer center like so many I had encountered before.
There was no pressure, no sales pitch, just real care, professionalism, and attention to detail. It felt like they truly wanted to help, not just sell a cosmetic procedure.
Day 1: Arriving at Arete Smile Design
On Day 1, I arrived early in the morning and was greeted warmly by the team. Dr. Davis walked in, immediately recognized me, and greeted me with a handshake and a hug.
That first impression set the tone, I was blown away by how personal and genuine it felt.
They brought me to the back and scanned my teeth with a 3D scanner, followed by taking a full set of X-rays. Then I met Dr. Daniels, another dentist on staff whose passion also lies in digital photography.
He took a full series of detailed photos and asked thoughtful questions about my goals. I explained that I wanted to return to the smile I had at 18 but only treat the previously affected teeth, not the full 10, which most cosmetic dentists insist on.
Dr. Davis was completely on board.
He supported my preference for a natural approach and agreed to only treat the teeth that had been altered.
He even suggested we could even out my gumline, but when I told him I preferred to keep the slight asymmetry, he said, ‘Perfect, I love natural. We’ll keep a little gumminess on one side and honor the shape of your original gumline.’
I was blown away by how much he listened. He didn’t push a one-size-fits-all model or try to convince me of some industry ideal.
After reviewing the photos I brought of my original smile and analyzing everything together, Dr. Davis and Dr. Daniels spent the rest of the day sculpting a custom model based on me.
I left the office feeling hopeful and excited for what was ahead.
Day 2: Saying Goodbye to the Porcelain Veneers
When I walked in for Day 2, the entire team greeted me with genuine warmth and excitement. They were ready, and so was I.
After more than twenty years, it was finally time to remove the porcelain and old composite that had defined my smile for so long.
Dr. Davis immediately made me feel at ease. He asked if I wanted music during the procedure, and I said Incubus.
We had talked about the band the day before after he noticed my shirt, so it felt right to carry that into this moment.
He started with the Waterlase laser but also used a drill when the laser could not do it all. Incredibly, he was able to remove every bit of porcelain and old bonding in just fifteen minutes with no additional damage to my tooth structure.
I was stunned. The original veneers had taken hours to remove in the past, but his removal was clean, quick, and handled with real care.
They even took a photo of my teeth with everything stripped away so I could see what remained.
It was emotional. For the first time in twenty-one years, I saw my real teeth again. Yes, they were worn down, but they were mine.
I felt overwhelmed with gratitude. It was hard not to think about how unnecessary it had been for that first dentist to grind them down so much. But I reminded myself to stay focused on the present.
Then Dr. Davis began the true artistry of rebuilding my smile. He started hand layering resin composite directly in my mouth with careful intention.
Using a wide range of shades, he sculpted each tooth layer by layer, creating a result that felt natural, detailed, and full of character.
He explained that this would take longer than usual because we were aiming for a hyper realistic enamel like appearance, something we had discussed the day before and made part of our plan, and I was fully on board.
We had four Incubus albums lined up and plenty more music ready. They offered movies and had a TV available, but I wanted to be fully present.
This was not just cosmetic work. This was me reclaiming who I really am.
After a short lunch break, Dr. Davis picked up right where he left off, continuing to layer, shape, and refine each tooth with focus and precision. From 8am in the morning until 5pm in the evening, it was a full day of dedication and creativity. I had never experienced anything like it in dentistry before.
As someone who has spent twenty-one years researching smiles, bonding, and porcelain veneers, I could see the definition in his work. He even added subtle fluorosis marks and natural variation. Most people might not notice these details, but I did.
Dr. Davis is a true artist, and his work deserves to be recognized.
The Evening of Day 2
That night at the hotel, I sat with everything I had just been through. My mouth felt sore, but it was a good kind of sore, a reminder that something real had just happened.
I kept catching glimpses of my smile in the mirror, not out of vanity, but disbelief.
But something felt off. It did not quite look like me. It looked like my 18 year old self, but that version felt so far away. I did not see the person I had become over the past fifteen years.
That realization hit me hard, and I felt a wave of dread.
I also felt like I was ending up with the same six veneer look I once had, as we were trying to make it work with just six or seven teeth again. It quickly became clear that this was a bad idea, and something we would have to address the very next day. But at that moment, I had to try to sleep with what I saw in the mirror, and I barely slept at all.
The enhanced resin required more layering, which made the teeth feel like they didn’t quite fit. That may have been my own doing, since I only wanted composite applied to the affected six or seven teeth. Even though the process didn’t involve drilling, preserving what was left was still my main goal.
Unfortunately, I can no longer have canines because of the damage caused by the first dentist, and my smile has been permanently altered as a result. I went into the appointment with an open mind, but the reality of the situation became clear in that moment especially when I felt the discomfort in my lower lip and that “look”
Then I remembered that Day 3 was meant for adjustments and added texture. Nothing was finalized yet. Still, my gut reaction was hard to ignore.
I called my partner from the hotel room, and she reassured me to stick it out, that it was okay, and to explain everything to Dr. Davis in the morning.
I still had my doubts, mostly because of everything I had been through in the past. Years of dental trauma and disappointment had trained me to expect the worst, even when things were finally going right.
But I reminded myself that this was different, and I needed to trust Dr. Davis.
I did not sleep much that night. My mind kept circling with thoughts and doubt. But deep down I knew this was part of the process
Day 3: The Final Day
I woke up at the hotel still feeling uneasy. The image in the mirror from the night before lingered in my mind.
I knew something was missing. I did not see the version of myself I had grown into over the last fifteen years.
But I also knew this was the day for refinement, for final touches, and for speaking up.
When I arrived at the office, they told me they had a surprise for me. My mind was still racing. I could not get out of my own head. All I wanted to do was fix this.
Then Dr. Davis came out with a guitar and started playing Drive by Incubus, a song he had just learned. His staff joined in, singing along with him. I was stunned.
After such a rough night, I never could have imagined anyone doing something like this for me. It was one of the kindest and most thoughtful things anyone had ever done, especially from a dental office and their staff. It immediately put me at ease.
Then I went into the back and shared everything with Dr. Davis. I told him how I felt, what I saw, and why it brought up so much emotion. He listened without judgment.
Not just as a dentist, but as someone who truly understood the weight of my history. I explained that the smile I had at 18 was gone, and so was that version of me.
I needed this smile to reflect who I have been for the past fifteen years, the one tied to the life I had lived and the memories I had made.
We made a pivot and adjusted in the moment. Dr. Davis carefully reshaped the canines, grinding them down just slightly to reflect the version of myself I had grown into.
That subtle change made all the difference. It brought back the familiarity I had been searching for.
By the end of Day 3, we were making small adjustments, one after the other.
I would go to the mirror, look carefully, then he would come back in. He did this every five minutes for what must have been ten rounds. Each time, he listened to what I said without judgment.
He never rushed me, never told me to wrap it up or move on. He wanted me to be happy. That level of care was truly remarkable.
And by the end, we reached our goal. I will never say perfect, because natural teeth are the best. But this is the closest thing you can get. And for the first time in a long time, I feel ready to move on.
I had come to Utah thinking I was just getting my teeth redone. What I found instead was something much deeper. The beginning of something new.
I am at peace with whatever the future holds. I know it will never be one hundred percent perfect or completely natural, but it can come close.
There will always be certain shades and lighting where the composite resin may not look exactly right, and that is part of the territory. But this is my smile now, and I am embracing it.
Most importantly, I am porcelain free. If anything happens, I know I have the support and someone I trust who can fix it.
Why I Had to Speak Out
In 2022, I created the Reddit community r/porcelainveneertruth after feeling overwhelmed by what I was seeing. Celebrities were getting veneers on perfectly healthy teeth, and people around me, even family, were admiring the look without understanding the risks. Social media kept pushing the idea of a perfect smile, glamorizing the procedure with flattering camera angles and filters while hiding the real consequences.
The final straw came when a friend told me a dentist recommended a full set of porcelain veneers to fix just two small chips from a wheelbarrow accident. I warned him that he did not want this.
That was the moment I knew I had to speak out.
Since launching the subreddit in 2022, it has grown steadily with hundreds of thousands of total views and now receives over 20,000 views each month. The community is strong, and the same story keeps surfacing again and again.
Someone goes in asking to fix one or two teeth and ends up with eight to ten porcelain veneers. Some only want a small improvement and leave with twenty teeth filed down.
People share heartbreaking stories of regret, saying they had no idea the procedure was irreversible.
But why would you want to reverse this? They say it will be the best decision you ever make and promise a perfect smile. In many cases though, especially if your teeth are already healthy, it turns out to be too good to be true
Many just want their original smile back. Others describe long-term problems with speech, bite alignment, and emotional distress.
To add to that, in ten to fifteen years, replacing veneers can cost another twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars.
I have personally been through this cycle, and it is extremely challenging both financially and emotionally.
If you want to learn more, there is detailed information and real experiences shared on the Reddit page r/porcelainveneertruth.
Not All Dentists Are the Same: Why Dr. Davis Stands Apart
What Dr. Davis is doing is not just different. He is redefining what ethical cosmetic dentistry should be.
He has a rare ability to replace porcelain veneers with advanced resin composite, using a unique layering technique and an artistic eye to recreate the natural look and texture of real enamel. He calls it “Puresmile”.
He does not remove any tooth structure at all and can even do this for people with healthy untouched teeth, which I imagine is much easier than fixing work that has already been botched.
It is something that 99 percent of dentists say either cannot or should not be done, replacing porcelain with composite, and most will refuse to take on the case.
He puts patients first and never sacrifices their long-term health for profit. While not all porcelain veneers are bad, when someone has healthy teeth, we have to ask, why take the risk?
He believes in keeping the work safe, noninvasive, and something he takes pride in. He does not outsource to a lab, takes full responsibility, and stands by every detail. That is all anyone can really ask for.
Take a look at his work and judge for yourself. He helped me after years of irreversible damage, and I truly believe he can help anyone.
He is also just a great person. He plays drums in a band, and his entire staff is incredibly kind, welcoming, and fun to be around.
Being treated by Dr. Davis is not just expert care, it is a refreshing and human experience.
Final Thoughts and What I Learned
If there is one thing this journey has taught me, it is that everything happens for a reason. Even the hardest moments led me to the right people, the right choices, and eventually, a path to healing.
I want to sincerely thank Dr. Jordan Davis and Dr. Andrew Kang & their staffs for their care, their vision, and their belief that my smile could be restored.
I also want to thank everyone who supported me through it all. That includes family, friends, coworkers, and everyone who understood the time, energy, and emotion that went into every appointment.
Most people do not care about your teeth the way you do. Often, they do not notice the things you see in yourself.
But when bad dental work changes your appearance, it can be deeply painful. It is hard to recognize yourself in the mirror, and that disconnection is very real.
What I learned is that you have to find a way to appreciate yourself again, even when it feels like a part of you is missing. To anyone going through this, please do not give up.
There is hope. Reach out. You are not alone. Keep going.
Disclaimer:The information provided is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical or dental advice.
We’ve included Dr. Jordan Davis in this article because his approach reflects the kind of care we believe in.
He focuses on no drilling and ultra-conservative smile enhancements that protect your natural teeth. We are not affiliated with him and do not speak on his behalf, but we genuinely respect the work he’s doing.
If you’re considering a smile enhancement and would like thoughtful guidance from a team that understands the process, feel free to reach out using the form below. We’re always happy to help however we can.
In some cases, members of our community have been able to explore flexible options or preferred rates through connections like this, though we can’t guarantee pricing in every situation.
If you’re interested in being seen by Dr. Jordan Davis, you’re welcome to contact his practice directly and mention this article. He’s kindly agreed to offer a reduced rate for members of our community.
Website: www.aretesmiledesign.com (or visit the “Get Your PureSmile” page)
Phone: 385-758-5812
Address: 2453 S. Wildcat Way, Suite A, Woods Cross, UT 84087
