Like the popular Tik Toker keeps joking: ‘This is not for civil servants.’
Well, I am a civil servant. And therefore, most times, I suffer from civil servant aka ‘poor man’s mentality’.
You see, when you work in a government hospital, you get used to certain types of patients: the poor, the low middle class and per chance, the upper middle class. Never the ‘one percenters’ (1 per cent). For that population, the consultant or specialist doctor goes to them. Never the other way round. Don’t get it twisted.
Now back to the masses. Whatever your department, the complaint of this set of people is usually OF genuine concern for something they are experiencing. It may be pain (either physical or emotional), a swelling, an ulcer or an accident. It’s almost always something that seriously alarms them (even if it turns out to be nothing). It hardly comes from a place of vanity or aesthetics. Or so, I used to think.
Until a few months ago when I started noticing a new trend.
Young people (from middle class backgrounds) asking for referrals to see the dentist. Why? To fix their crooked teeth. What’s wrong with crooked teeth, I ask. It doesn’t look nice, they reply. Have I not heard of orthodontists creating smiles, they ask? Indeed, I have. I just didn’t think it concerned us. Well, it does, they reply. Crooked teeth don’t look good on Tik Tok. And Instagram.
I’d heard about veneers before but never really understood how they worked. Do they take out your actual teeth and replace them? Or are they just placed over your existing teeth? I wasn’t sure. So, like most of us do when faced with a question we can’t answer, I turned to our ever-reliable source—Dr Google. That and of course, my orthodontist friends.
Turns out, veneers are more like a covering placed over your natural teeth—almost like a shell. They’re not the same as fillings, crowns or implants, which serve different purposes in dental care. The trend leans toward exaggerated perfection: blinding whiteness, uniform shapes, and uncanny symmetry that often look unnatural.
Look around you. Nobody in Hollywood or even Nollywood has crooked, ugly or yellow looking teeth anymore. Veneers (custom porcelain shells bonded to teeth) are now ubiquitous with stars like Charlie Sheen, Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus and Tom Cruise, who have famously transformed their smiles. In Nigeria, Davido et al have admitted to having their smile altered.
Where gaps, quirks, or slightly crooked teeth once added charm, today’s stars opt for homogeneity. Flashing white, beautiful, even white dentition. Social media and HD cameras exacerbate the pressure for flawlessness.
Curiosity pushed me to investigate further. Who installs the veneers? What is the process? And most importantly, how much does it cost?
Once something to be ashamed of, celebrities and social media influencers are now happy to show off their store-bought teeth and plastic bodies. The truth is that the world has changed, and the entertainment industry has changed with it. Stars once rarely seen off-screen, now live in a social media bubble. They must sell film and television projects to live audiences with thousands of cell phones capturing them on video from unflattering angles (Funke Akindele, anyone?). They must build and maintain unreal physiques well into their golden years. And, above all, they must brandish their personal brand on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where their appearance will be scrutinized by followers who have been lured into the omnipresence of Botox-smooth faces and steroid-hardened bodies. Now, any shame associated with surgically enhanced smiles is reserved for those who can’t afford quality work. Perfect teeth is now a status symbol. Only poor people have bad teeth.
An orthodontist in Lagos told me about the number of adolescents and young adults queuing up to her clinic. “Because TikTok is blowing up,” she said, “teenagers are seeing five-second clips of perfect smiles over and over and over, every single day.” In the past few years, she explained, these young people increasingly see veneers as a path to achieving such a smile, even if it means having healthy tooth enamel stripped away to accommodate the veil of perfect porcelain that makes this illusion possible.
As for the dental veneer industry, this brand of anxiety represents yet another opportunity for growth in an already booming marketplace. The global dental veneers market was valued at an estimated $2.3 billion at the end of 2022 and its revenue is expected to double by 2031, driven by greater awareness, more affordable treatment options, and the growing older population in key markets like North America, Africa and the Middle East.
The cost, you ask. Well, not all veneers are created equal. Porcelain veneers, like the ones the Saudi princes and Hollywood A-listers get make up about two-thirds of the market. They are the most expensive, durable, and long-lasting option, and tend to look more natural than composite veneers, which are made from plastic resin. Composite veneers can cost as little as $250 per tooth, or as much as $1,500, and last for about five years, while porcelain veneers last much longer and range in cost from around $1,000 to $2,500 per tooth. Generally, porcelain teeth last for between 10 and 30 years, or until you get bored with them.
Guess how much it costs to have all 28 (or 32) teeth replaced? For lesser mortals who cannot afford to have all their teeth covered, only the teeth that are visible when they smile are replaced.
Achieving a natural look takes time and money. Over the course of two weeks, about 40 hours of work are used to craft 28 new teeth for those who can afford it. Sometimes, people (I will not call them patients for obvious reasons) pay up to $100,000 extra to cut the wait time in half by having a team of two or three technicians working around the clock.
Hindsight is 20/20. I regret not studying dentistry in school. Shey I would have been balling by now?
The process? You ask. Well, nothing good comes easy.
Veneers are installed in a multi-step process, starting with preparing the teeth by removing a thin layer of enamel to create space for the veneer. When I say ‘preparing’ the teeth, I am being compassionate. Truth is, each tooth is scraped and hacked away until only a tiny shrapnel remains. An impression is then taken, and the veneer is custom-made in a lab. Finally, the veneer is bonded to the tooth using a special adhesive ensuring a strong bond and a tight seal that will protect the teeth from infection.
This is just a summary of the process as it is usually done over time and requires multiple hospital visits and of course follow-up visits.
Is it safe? They ask. Well, I am no orthodontist, but I have heard dentists critique the trend of prioritising aesthetics over oral health as veneers require shaving down natural teeth, risking long-term damage.
Sensitive teeth, gum pain, bleeding and infection are some of the side-effects.
But what do I know? I am just a bloody civil servant practicing in Nigeria.
Eid Mubarak!
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