I Got Veneers for My Daughter’s Wedding. I Didn’t Realize They’d Change My Life.

30.06.2026, 16:41 allure.com

New York City-based creator Salina Williams avoided dental work most of her life. Finally, in her 50s and with her daughter’s wedding approaching, she decided she was done with the smile insecurity—not to mention physical discomfort—she'd been dealing with for years. So last fall, with the help of some laughing gas and a THC gummy, she had a full mouth reconstruction: 11 new upper teeth and 10 lower teeth using a combination of crowns, veneers, and an implant bridge. Here, 55-year-old Williams talks about the entire experience—the fear, the finances, the biggest surprises—in her own words.

“Growing up, my family wasn’t well off. We lived in in Brooklyn, and went to dental clinics that treated us poorly. That experience had an impact on how I felt going to the dentist as an adult. I’ve said to many people over the years that I had three children all natural [without an epidural], and I would rather give birth than go to the dentist. Even in my 50s, the physical discomfort and the mental part of dentistry still terrifies me.

I made sure I took care of my children’s teeth—everybody got braces. But my teeth were always crooked. I finally got braces at 40, and it was just the worst—they kept catching on my lips, I got food stuck in them, my mouth was always dry. After two years, I had them taken off. I felt good for six months—then my teeth started shifting. I'm not going to lie: I didn't wear my retainer. I’d been suffering from gum disease and a tooth on the back right was deteriorating and couldn’t be saved, so it had to be removed. I ended up having to get an implant. Then menopause set in and things got worse. I felt like my teeth were loose and moving more. [Editor’s note: A loss of estrogen during menopause can leave teeth and gums more vulnerable to dryness, sensitivity, and gum disease, which can sometimes add up to teeth that shift more and, yes, even feel loose. And just as menopause causes bone loss elsewhere in the body, it can affect the jawbone that supports your teeth.]

As a content creator, I have control over the pictures I take. I learned how to smile and talk without really showing my teeth. I definitely knew how to pose, and whenever I knew a photo was being taken, my mouth was closed. But if I was out somewhere and I didn’t have control of the pictures that I was in, I would get anxious. I would always be thinking about how I was laughing and that my mouth was open and whether people see that there's a side tooth missing or crooked or yellow teeth.

In February 2024, my partner passed away and I went through a hard time. I lost a lot of weight. The next October, I went away with my best friend to Jamaica. We were in this lovely hotel room and I came out of the bathroom after seeing myself in the mirror, turned to her, and said, “I'm going to get my teeth done.” She was like, “Well, what happened in the bathroom?” and I said, “Something is wrong with my face. I don't look the same.” Not only did my face look more sunken from the weight loss, but my bottom teeth had shifted so much that they were cutting into the roof of my mouth while I slept.

I had been thinking about getting my teeth done before that trip, but the anxiety about going to the dentist deterred me. Not to mention the expense—I had one kid in college, and another getting married. I felt like doing it would be selfish.

In the end, though, it was my daughter's approaching wedding that finally made me commit to changing my smile. My self-consciousness about it outweighed the cost, and my anxiety. When I came back from Jamaica, I contacted my children, who I refer to as “the council.” The two older ones were on board and said it sounded great and like something I needed to do. Then I showed my daughter the dentist I had planned on going to, someone a friend of mine had gone for veneers a couple of years ago. My daughter immediately vetoed my choice and pulled up Apa Aesthetic's Instagram page. She had seen Dr. Michael Apa’s work on social media and said he was the only choice for me. Once I looked at his page, it was hard to consider anyone else—the smiles he does just look so natural.

I had my first appointment at Dr. Apa's Upper East Side practice on October 14, 2025. One of his colleagues, Dr. Nicolas Aguilera—who everyone refers to as Dr. Nicolas—looked at my teeth and took photos and x-rays. Then he asked me to tell him about my smile and what I wanted the outcome to be. I explained that I had been embarrassed about my teeth for so long. When he asked what I wanted them to look like, I said, “I just don't want them to look like this.”

I learned from the consultation that I was right when I'd told my friend in that hotel room that the decline of my teeth was affecting the shape of my face. At 54, my tooth decay and gum disease had progressed to the point that my bite had collapsed, meaning my teeth had been worn down over time and could no longer support my bite. This can affect not only mouth function, but facial structure and appearance. Two days after my initial appointment, Dr. Apa’s office called and detailed the extent of the damage. Without a full restoration of my mouth, the decay would continue and it’s likely my health issues would have accelerated beyond repair.

Dr. Nicolas said my new teeth were designed specifically for facial harmony. I would need a gum lift to make my new teeth look symmetrical—he explained he’d do small adjustments to make my smile look more balanced and would use pink porcelain along the gum line to address recession. Dr. Nicolas also planned to extend my smile laterally, which included adding more volume into the teeth at the sides of my smile, so there’s less space between my teeth and my cheeks. He and his team also needed to rebuild my bite by fixing my back teeth and molars with crowns.

We scheduled my next appointment quickly—less than two weeks later. This is when the doctor would do the gum lift and install my temporary veneers. During that visit, 11 of my upper teeth and 10 lower teeth would be restored using a combination of crowns, veneers, and an implant bridge.

Williams smiling wide at her daughter's wedding in April 2026.

A case like this would typically cost $80,000 or more in Dr. Apa’s practice; I was lucky enough to get more than a 50% discount because I would be sharing the process with my hundreds of thousands of social media followers. The cost still felt astronomical, but after hearing the details of what was going on in my mouth—and that my situation was far more than just aesthetic—I was more convinced than ever that I had to do it.

On the day of that second appointment, Dr. Nicolas worked on my mouth for eight hours. Whenever I took a bathroom break, I put on a mask—I didn't want to see what was going on in my mouth. My level of anxiety was so high. They numbed me, and gave me laughing gas and a THC gummy. By the time the appointment was over, it was dark out. My 28-year-old son arrived to pick me up at the end of my appointment and tried to give me a smoothie. I hadn’t been able to really eat all day, and I hadn’t seen my teeth yet. He asked me to show him. I pulled the mask down and… it was such a big deal. I started crying. My whole face was transformed. I felt like this is who I was supposed to be, this is who I could have been so long ago. Dr. Nicolas said something and I laughed and put my hand up to my mouth. That’s what I've done my whole life to hide my smile. He guided my hand down and said, “You don't have to do that anymore.”

Williams before getting her veneers.

Williams after getting veneers.

I had my last appointment on November 21, which happened to be my late partner’s birthday. It was another long day, about five hours, because Dr. Nicolas had to work on every tooth individually. This is when they installed the crowns and a new tooth implant, and did the final veneer work. After that appointment, my daughter bought me about 20 red lipsticks from Charlotte Tilbury, Fenty, Dior—every brand. I used to not wear red lipstick because I didn’t want to bring attention to my mouth. As soon as I’d gotten the temporary veneers, I went to Miami with L’Oréal Paris for a brand trip. At one of the events, there's a photo of me with red lipstick on. I’m smiling like I won the lotto. My teeth look great, but the fact that my mouth is healthy is an even better outcome.

A couple of weeks before I got my final veneers, I’d told my followers that I was getting my teeth done; I debuted my new smile on my social media channels on November 28. When I posted before-and-after photos, the comments were 98% extremely lovely. A lot of the people were saying that before, my teeth aged me. And they were right. I had been so uncomfortable with my smile for so long that I didn’t really think of fixing it as an anti-aging thing. But after getting veneers, I absolutely feel like it gave me a more youthful look by adding volume to my face. It's been an emotional rollercoaster, adjusting to my new smile, but it was the best thing that I ever did. I am so glad that I finally took the leap.

Williams at a L'Oréal Paris event in Miami in November 2025, with her temporary veneers.

For a while, I had felt like, ‘I’ve lasted this long without getting my teeth done, so why bother?’ But I want to live the best life I can and be my best self, and this is what that looks like for me. You have to do what makes you feel good about yourself no matter your age and no matter what it is—if you need to go back to school, go back to school. If you need to join a gym, do it. If you want to learn a language, do it. If you want to get your teeth done, do it. Your age shouldn't hinder you.

My daughter’s wedding was April 25, four months to the day after I got my new smile. In so many of the pictures I am smiling and having such a wonderful time, in part because my teeth were the farthest thing from my mind. Having a new smile has made such a difference in my life over these eight months and not just in terms of aes