She hid her smile through every performance. Not anymore.
At 47, Erina came to Vera Smile for a full-mouth zirconium restoration, and left able to smile through her culture’s dances without covering her mouth.
Before“I can’t wait to go home and sing and laugh my head off instead of hiding my teeth”
— Erina Leauanae · Smiling without hiding
What Erina’s treatment involved
Two broken roots (15, 16) and a wisdom tooth (38) were removed, and three Hiossen implants placed in their place, including one closing the lower gap at 37. Natural teeth elsewhere were left untouched. Four to six months of healing followed.
A fixed zirconium bridge closed the remaining upper gap, and zirconium crowns covered every remaining natural tooth and each new implant, twenty-eight units in total, for one uniform, natural-looking smile.
Panoramic reconstruction after treatment — illustrative, not diagnostic
Her culture, finally shown in full
For years, Erina covered her mouth through every kapa haka, holding back the smile that was supposed to lead the dance.
She grew up performing kapa haka and leading her community’s songs, always with a hand near her mouth, keeping her smile hidden mid-performance.
For a Māori woman, showing your teeth fully while dancing carries real weight; it is how culture and identity get carried forward. Hiding it felt like holding back more than a smile.
Erina decided it was time to stop performing around her smile instead of through it. She came to Vera Smile for a full-mouth restoration, trusting the process one step at a time.
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What could your smile story look like?
It begins the same way it did for Erina, with a single conversation about what is possible for your mouth, specifically.
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