The recipe for super-sparkly teeth is simple: regular cleaning appointments, a good oral beauty routine (more on that later)…oh, and a world-class celebrity dentist that flies into Dubai twice a month. Cosmetic dentist Dr Michael Apa has well and truly entered the chat.
If you haven’t heard his name, you’ve probably seen his work – namely, in the smiles of Kendall Jenner, Taylor Swift, J-Lo, Blake Lively…plus a ton of other Hollywood A-listers. Regionally, Dr Apa is behind the pearly whites of Huda Kattan and some Royal Families. Yup, he’s a pretty big deal.
I recently spent the afternoon at Apa Aesthetic Dental Clinic Dubai to meet Dr Apa and his team. In between musings on Hollywood smiles, veneers, lip fillers and debunking TikTok oral hygiene trends (this will SHOCK you, btw) – the team also broke down everything I need to do to fix my smile (turns out it’s A LOT).
Your regular dentist could never
I thought my commute to work was bad (insert Dubai traffic here), but when Dr Apa told me he travels between his four clinics in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Dubai every week, I was humbled. Since opening its doors, the Apa Aesthetic Dental Clinic on Dubai’s Jumeirah beachfront has just undergone a makeover of its own – and its minimalistic decor and sleek interior is akin to an it-girl hotspot. Fitting, most would agree, for the likes of Kendall Jenner or Taylor Swift.
But what does it take for a dentist to earn a celebrity stamp of approval? “Honestly I have no idea”, says Dr Apa. “I came out of dental school and joined one of the biggest dental practices in the world. When I took over his practice, I started to get featured in all of these magazines in the early 2000s, and that gives you a lot of credibility with a certain clientele”. 22 years later, Dr Apa cemented his status as the leading practitioner of cosmetic dentistry. “Our clinic is more like a plastic surgeon’s office”, he says. “What we’re essentially doing is re-working someone’s entire mouth, whether it be purely cosmetic (which is probably only 10% of the time), or just fixing problems and correcting the work of other dentists”.
Dr Apa’s practice specializes in ‘smile makeovers’, using a combination of expert cleaning practises and state-of-the-art veneer technology (the lab is literally inside the Dubai clinic for all to see), paired with years of experience.
The big veneer debate
The v-word is something that my FYP has conditioned me into fearing – shaven teeth, trips to Turkey gone wrong, bonds breaking, it’s all seemingly got a pretty bad rep. “Veneer is like anything – a facelift can be really bad if you do it with someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing,” says Dr Apa. “The biggest thing is to do your research – not just seeing before and afters on Instagram”.
A veneer is a thin wafer that is permanently bonded to your tooth to cover its natural color, shape, or positioning in your mouth. In most cases, veneers just add to your existing tooth, rather than replace it. And here’s the real tea: all your fave celebs are doing it.
The most important thing that Dr Apa would tell his patients is that the aesthetics of a smile is nothing if you don’t value the health component. “There’s a lot of people running around with a lot of active disease in their mouth, and they’re not worried. They just worry about their teeth looking white. Having old fillings, decay, swollen gums is frustrating – we want to give people a healthy looking smile but that’s just it – it needs to be healthy. People are only looking for instant results”.
Psst: there’s a dental alternative to lip fillers (no, seriously)…
Veneers aren’t just about getting a perfect set of pearly whites—they also bring a different aesthetic benefit. When placed correctly, these thin shells add a bit of thickness to your teeth, subtly pushing out the natural curves of your lips and giving them a fuller, plumper look. But it’s not as simple as just slapping veneers on your front teeth. To create a naturally fuller smile with perfect symmetry, specialized procedures are a must.
While they won’t stimulate collagen like injections do, that’s actually a plus—the result looks smooth, natural, and doesn’t involve any foreign substances. Plus, while collagen injections might last up to 5 years (or even less with fillers), porcelain veneers can keep your smile looking fresh for up to 20 years with proper care.
Warning: everything TikTok told you about oral hygiene is a LIE
The biggest takeaway from my afternoon with Dr Apa is that, shockingly (or perhaps not so shockingly), everything the internet has told me about oral hygiene is wrong. Luckily for you, Dr Apa sat with me to breakdown everything we *think* we know about how to care for our teeth.
Does not rinsing your mouth after brushing your teeth help the toothpaste work better?
“False. Should rise with a fluoride”.
How do we know what is a good toothpaste and mouthwash?
“Flouride good, alcohol bad”.
Do whitening toothpastes actually work?
“No. The only thing that ‘whitening’ means is stain removal. It doesn’t bleach. Bleaching whitens your teeth. Any over-the-counter product with sodium-hydroxide in it will bleach your teeth”.
So what about whitening strips?
“Yep, they help. And they’re completely safe and fine”.
How often should people floss?
“Everyday, twice a day”.
Should we be oil pulling?
“No – it does not work. Has zero benefits, actually. There’s a lot of unfortunate things that pop up that are sales tactics. Look at research, there’s no benefit”.
What about tongue scraping?
“Bacteria in your mouth, to a certain extent, is good. Getting rid of too much of it is bad. You need bacteria to fight off disease, and when you remove too much of it, that causes more problems”.
Should we get Invisalign?
“A lot of people are getting Invisalign and not following through on treatment. It’s overpushed, and people don’t realise that your teeth will move back after it”.
Yikes. Moral of the story: keep your oral hygiene routine simple. And perhaps if Taylor Swift is in her veneer era, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of us are too.
In your glow-up era? Find some at home beauty services to save for your next lazy day here.