HANNAH BETTS: My dentist told me I had the teeth of a 65-year-old – here’s how she made me look 40 again
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In an attempt to paint the Fourth Bridge that is midlife care, there’s one area that Brits, obsessed with skin, toe, hair and nails, often forget: our teeth.
And yet the truth is, you can polish the environment, but if your mouth is full of ancient tombstones, then you’re going to look ancient.
Aggressive brushing had caused my gums to recede (hence the phrase “long in the tooth,” meaning “old”). This also meant that my teeth were neurotically sensitive. A noisy childhood created french fries, while lashings of tea and red wine stained my teeth daffodil yellow.
I finally took my battered dentists to the late Dr. London Gulen, the dental genius. I took it to Uchenna Okoye. I had just turned 40 and begged Uchenna to wear down my teeth. He took my hand: ‘Okay, 65. But that’s completely normal for 40-year-old British people. And I’ll fix it.’
First, he applied composite bonding, a form of filling in which enamel-coloured resin is coated onto tooth surfaces and lasts for years (£495 per tooth). londonsmiling.com). Only then did it ease. Result: my grin looked good in the sense of ‘You look good’ rather than ‘You look like an American game show host’.
Unfortunately, Uchenna died suddenly in 2023. His successor is the similarly award-winning Dr. Joe Bansal (from £150 per consultation). A large number of people in their fifties come to see Joe in the approximately 18 months before he becomes the mother of the bride to have a smile makeover, which consists of alignment, bonding and/or whitening.
Today the 54 year old rates my mouth a ‘strong 3/5’. He adds: ‘Every dentist’s goal should be stabilization (so let’s get your gums super healthy and cavity-free); after appearance (for you, to restore your bond and whiten it a little); aftercare.” Translation: ‘Let’s kick Betts in the backside.’
It’s not enough to think about your teeth 24 hours before every hygienist visit. You have to do the work.
First my brush. ‘I know electric ones are better than manual ones, but basic ones are just as good as fancy, right?’ I asked. “No,” said Joe. ‘investment.’ I was using the Oral-B Vitality Pro Electric Toothbrush, which is the cheapest oscillating and rotating type (£21.99, amazon.co.uk). Instead he pointed me to Oral-B Pro 3, which cleans more deeply (£70, amazon.co.uk), I bought this for a song on Black Friday.
And good news. It gave me cleaner, brighter and whiter teeth. Might persuade me to buy Oral-B iO5 (now £89.99, amazon.co.uk), for a state-of-the-art approach with micro-vibrations and frictionless magnetic drive.
I love the Oral-B Satin Tape (£2.40, boots.com), glides between the teeth rather than slicing through the gums. Joe prefers the gum-protecting Kin B5 Mouthwash (£12.99, amazon.com) is used before brushing to remove plaque to create a cleaner surface to clean. Then she recommends the super chic Marvis toothpaste (£9, boots.com) or Colgate Total (£2.50, boots.com) if rinsed less often – spit instead of rinsing to create a protective shield.
Grinding (bruxism) is a huge problem. I recommend botox to weaken overactive masseter jaw muscles. Once it wears off, I feel that familiar sandy crunch in my mouth as I wake up.
In terms of color, the official industry metric, the VITA tooth color classification, is ridiculously confusing. It organizes colors into four hue groups (A, B, C, D) and then numbers them from lightest (1) to darkest (4) in each. Group A is reddish brown, B is reddish yellow, C is grayish, and D is reddish gray. Anything brighter needs to be measured on another scale, which we might describe as ‘day-glo Türkiye teeth’.
I’m currently in A2, which is a dark, light ivory shade that shimmers with a youthful glow on many people. However, since I have vampy white skin, Joe recommends I switch to A1 or B1 (the latter being the brightest natural-looking shade).
She takes a digital scan of my teeth to make bespoke whitening trays and I start coating them with small amounts of Boutique Whitening peroxide, first 10 per cent, then 16 per cent, and wear them pain-free overnight (from £563). For an instant effect there’s the late Dr Uchenna’s excellent Teeth Whitening Pen (£23.99, druchennasmysmile.com). The strengthening gel both instantly brightens and whitens over time. Try it and you’ll be grinning come Halloween. Just like me.
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longing for cosmetics
I wrote about this at the end of the summer, after my textured hair tester raved about Amika’s line of heat-activated, frizz-fighting shampoos, conditioners, and leave-in conditioners. Panthenol and glycol-rich leave-in spray, Amika’s Frizz-me-not Moisturizing Anti-Frizz Treatment (from £10, sephora.co.uk) is back because I gave it a whirl and wow. This instant conditioning spray does such a great job on my fine, weak, unblow-dried curls that I have to give it a hearty thumbs up. I brush through wet or dry hair and all my low-maintenance frizz sins disappear. Vital: a new classic. I buy a batch of the 60ml sprays for each bag I own.
race with you
