Christy,
my dental hygienist, was getting married in a few months and she had attended
one of those bridal shows that brought everyone together: florists,
dressmakers, wedding planners, caterers, hotels and other wedding locations,
vacation people, makeup artists, photographers, and more. But she did not see
one dentist! I had recently joined the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
(AACD) (now almost 20 years ago!) and my team and I had just discussed how we could
get the word out about what we do and how we can do it. What an amazing team
member; as she was busy planning for her wedding, she was thinking of our
office and our goals as a team, too.
But it
did seem like a natural opportunity. I just had recently purchased software
that could import smiles, change them on the screen, superimpose other smiles,
and give people a visual idea of what may be possible in a smile makeover.
So we
contacted the organizers of the largest wedding show in Calgary and booked a
booth. We got a corner booth for greater visibility, purchased tables, banners,
lighting, and more to make it visually appealing and spent a weekend talking to
a large number of women about their smiles and their upcoming big day. There
was a lot of interest but, in the end, we did not garner a lot of
business. The message we got was that
there was so much being spent on the wedding, there was little left to spend on
a smile makeover, too.
We kept
going back, and refined what we were doing and how we were doing it, and we did
get some interest and some people following up in our practice. It was
financially worthwhile, but just by a little bit. We did wedding shows and women’s
shows. We were ahead of the curve and building our reputation—one person at a time. But after three years of these
shows, planning, buying supporting material, paying team members to give up
some of their time to help out at the show (don’t get me wrong: I paid them for
their time, but it was still family time that they were giving up to be there
with me, although they did it with a smile and grace), and more, it just was
not an effective use of my time and resources. After all, I was giving up
family time to do this, too, and I was there every minute of every show!
One of
the things that did come out of all of these shows, through research, contact
with colleagues through the AACD, and my personal experience, is that we
created a wedding timeline for planning a smile makeover and we posted it as a
public service on our website. Over the years, many people had e-mailed me from
all over the world, thanking me for providing the information, and it turned
out to be a wonderful public information service. Here is what was on my
website:
“Prior to your wedding day you will plan
your clothing, jewelry, hair, and makeup in great detail. But the first thing
people will look at on your wedding day, and the first thing you will see in
all of your pictures forever after, is your smile.
“Who should be concerned with planning a
fabulous smile for your wedding? Everyone who matters to you. The bride, groom,
maid of honour, best man, parents of the bride and groom, bridesmaids, and
groomsmen are the primary people who should consider a smile enhancement before
the wedding day.
“The best cosmetic dentists in Calgary
are all fairly busy, especially during wedding season, so here is a timing
checklist to ensure every member of your bridal party will look their best:
3 months prior:
Have a smile consult to determine what could be done. These consults are
usually 30 to 45 minutes long, should be complimentary, or have a nominal fee.
2 months prior:
Large smile makeovers should be started (usually completed in only 2 visits,
about 2 weeks apart). This early date will ensure you will have lots of time
for other last minute details. Your smile makeover will last for many years! Do
it sooner than later.
1 month prior:
For smiles that need minor changes only, consider home or laser whitening. The
best cosmetic dental practices offer both services.
1 to 7 days prior: Go
for a tooth polishing. Even if it is not time for a regularly scheduled dental
visit, a thorough polishing will make your teeth shine, and should cost less than
$100.”
Feel
free to use any or all of this for your own website. I don’t mind.
Unfortunately, the Complaints Director (CD) of the Alberta Dental Association
and College told me I had to remove this from my website as it was a statement
of superiority. No one complained about it, but the CD still found fault with
everything I was doing and shut it down.
The
happy ending to this, however, and as always, was the relationships that came
out of these shows. At my first wedding show, I met this
young woman and her mother. The young woman was getting married in a few months
and had small peg laterals and was very conscious of her smile. We did
photographs of her, analyzed her smile and offered a number of solutions from
simple to complex. She chose something in the middle which consisted of two Empress
restorations (this is the late 90s now) on her upper lateral incisors with some
teeth whitening and she looked fabulous (I am a little biased).
But the
best part is over the next 10 years I saw two of her sisters and I ended up
enhancing all their smiles. They are incredibly beautiful women, inside and
out. When it was all finished, I paid for a portrait session with a famous internationally
renowned local photographer and they each got to pick photos that they could
keep for themselves. Here is one of the images that came out of that session:
Now
these three young women are all married and mothers to some amazing young kids.
It’s so much fun to be part of something like this.
So
enjoy wedding season. We really can make a difference for some people on a
really important day in their lives.
Warm
regards,
Larry
Stanleigh, BSc, MSc, DDS, FADI, FICD, FACD
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