New Hanover County · Since 1987
Smile Makeover in Wrightsville Beach, NC
A smile makeover is a planned combination of treatments, designed together, that changes how your whole smile looks rather than fixing one tooth at a time.
- Three doctors, one location
- Sedation available
- Most major plans accepted
- Written estimates before treatment
smile makeover, explained
Most people who want a different smile have more than one thing bothering them: a dark tooth, a crowded lower front, an old crown that no longer matches, edges worn flat. Fixing those one by one produces a mouth of mismatched repairs. Planning them together produces a smile.
Full detail on smile makeover ›
Patients from Wrightsville Beach
Wrightsville Beach has the highest household incomes in the region and a resident base that treats a good smile as part of the package.
This is the community that drives most of our cosmetic caseload, and the brief is almost always the same: better, without looking like work has been done.
Harbour Island and the Banks Channel side send us most of our Wrightsville Beach patients, and the drawbridge is the only real variable in the trip.
Summer traffic on Eastwood Road is worth planning around; a morning appointment is a different journey from a four o'clock one in July.
The island's year-round population is small, so almost everyone here already drives into Wilmington for medical appointments.
We see patients from across Wrightsville Beach and the surrounding area, including Johnnie Mercer's Pier, the Loop, Banks Channel and the 28480 ZIP code.
New Hanover County is the built-out core of the region, growing around one percent a year, with roughly 21 percent of residents over 65 and the highest concentration of employer dental coverage in southeastern North Carolina.
Larger cases are scheduled around your calendar rather than ours, and we will consolidate appointments where the clinical sequence allows it.
Twenty minutes over the drawbridge puts you in a chair with a doctor who does this work every week, not a cosmetic clinic that sees veneers twice a year.
You may be a candidate if
- Several cosmetic complaints rather than one
- Old crowns or fillings that no longer match the teeth around them
- Teeth worn short, chipped or uneven along the edges
- Crowding or spacing alongside discoloration
- A specific event or deadline you want the result finished for
What the process looks like
- Smile design consultationPhotographs, a digital scan and a conversation about what you want changed and what you want left alone.
- Digital mock-upWe design the proposed result and show it to you before committing to a sequence.
- Trial smileFor veneer and crown work, you wear the new shape in temporary material and live with it.
- Treatment in sequenceStraightening first, then whitening, then porcelain matched to the whitened shade.
- Final reviewPhotographs against the originals, bite check, and a guard if you grind.
Afterwards
Porcelain does not stain, but the natural teeth around it can, so the whitening you did before treatment will need occasional top-ups. If you clench or grind, wear the night guard. It is what protects the investment.
Follow-up visits are short and we will schedule them at the start or end of the day if that works better around your week.
What it costs
A smile makeover is priced as the sum of its parts, and the parts vary more than any other treatment we plan. You get a written, itemized estimate for the whole sequence, and it can be phased so the orthodontic or whitening stage is paid for before the porcelain stage begins. Cosmetic work is rarely covered by insurance, though any part that restores a damaged tooth may be.
We can sequence larger cases across two benefit years where the clinical situation allows it, which puts two annual maximums against the same plan of treatment.
In their own words
Hear from Dr. Carter Lee
Dr. Lee on fixing only what needs fixing, and what it is like to hand a patient the mirror after a smile transformation.
Questions we get asked
Is a smile makeover the same as veneers?
Veneers are often part of one, but a makeover can include straightening, whitening, crowns and gum work. It is a plan, not a single product.
Can you match the new work to my other teeth?
Yes. We whiten first where that is part of the plan, then match the porcelain to the result.
How far is your office from Wrightsville Beach?
About 10 miles, or roughly 20 minutes via Eastwood Road (US-74) over the Heide Trask Drawbridge. We are at 1301 Physicians Dr in Wilmington, with parking at the door.
Do you see patients from Wrightsville Beach?
Regularly. Wrightsville Beach is part of our core service area in New Hanover County, and twenty minutes over the drawbridge puts you in a chair with a doctor who does this work every week, not a cosmetic clinic that sees veneers twice a year.
What are your hours?
Monday through Thursday, 8:00am to 5:00pm, and Friday, 8:00am to 12:00pm. Outside those hours, leave a message or use the appointment request form and we will come back to you with the first available time.
Smile Makeover · Wrightsville Beach, NC
See the result before it is permanent.
Every cosmetic case is mocked up and worn in temporary form before anything final is made. You approve the shape and the shade.
- Cosmetic dentistry is the practice's stated specialty
- Digital design and trial smile before preparation
- Shade-matched lab work with in-person verification
- 50,000+ patients treated since 1987
Afraid of the overdone look? So are we. The brief on nearly every case here is to look like yourself, rested.
Request an appointment
We reply the next business day.
Please do not include Protected Health Information. For anything urgent, call (910) 762-0958.
