Ready for a New, Perfect Smile?
A smile makeover aims to give you more appealing, functional teeth. Since every smile is different, a makeover could be anything from whitening to a full-mouth reconstruction.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Boris Zusin, DDS, FAGD, MBA, MS, Diplomate, American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine (ABDSM) · Last reviewed August 21, 2026
Your Smile Matters
A smile makeover can improve your dental health as well as your confidence — research shows people who love their smiles tend to smile more. If you have decay, worn restorations, or gum disease, a makeover may address both function and appearance together. Zusin Dental designs and delivers smile makeovers for patients throughout New York City, from our Upper West Side office.
Cosmetic dentistry surveys consistently find that most patients seek treatment for wanting to look more attractive and feel more confident, not just to fix damage — a completely normal and valid reason to start, and one we build the conversation around rather than assuming your motivation has to be purely functional.
Am I a Candidate?
If you're not currently satisfied with the look of your smile due to chips, stains, gaps, crowding, or missing teeth, a consultation can help determine the right combination of treatments for you.
How We Plan Your Makeover
A smile makeover isn't one procedure — it's a coordinated plan, and modern planning tools make the outcome far more predictable than guesswork ever could.
Looking at the Whole Picture
We evaluate more than individual teeth — tooth color, shape, and alignment, gum line contour, and how all of it relates to your lips, smile line, and facial features. A change that looks great on one tooth can look wrong for your face as a whole, which is why the assessment starts broad before it gets specific.
Previewing the Result First
Using photos, intraoral scans, and facial imaging, digital smile design software lets us design and preview your new smile before any permanent work begins — simulating outcomes and making it far easier for you, us, and the lab to stay on the same page about what we're actually building. That digital design still gets transferred into your mouth as a temporary mock-up you can see and feel in person; an in-mouth try-in remains a necessary step regardless of how good the digital preview looks, since it's the only way to confirm your bite, speech, and lip line all still work correctly before anything irreversible happens. Digitally planned smiles have been shown to meet patient expectations more predictably than designs worked out by eye alone.
What Makes a Smile Look Right
An attractive smile isn't judged tooth by tooth — it's assessed as four layers working together, from your face down to individual tooth anatomy.
Facial Esthetics
How your lips and the surrounding soft tissue frame your smile when you talk and laugh, not just how it looks in a still photo.
Macroesthetics
The relationship between your teeth and the tissue around them — midline alignment, overall symmetry, your smile line (how much tooth and gum shows when you smile), and the dark buccal corridor space at the corners of your smile.
Microesthetics
Individual tooth anatomy — color, shape, size, and proportion. A common reference point is the golden proportion, where the central incisors and canines read as roughly equal in length and the lateral incisors sit about 2mm shorter.
Gingival Esthetics
Gum contour, the position of the gum's highest point over each tooth (the zenith), and whether the small triangles of gum tissue between teeth are filled in or show as visible “black triangles.”
Symmetry is one of the more consistently important factors in how a smile is perceived — and dentists and patients don't always weigh these factors the same way, which is exactly why we talk through your specific priorities before finalizing a plan rather than assuming we already know what matters most to you.
Least Invasive First: How We Sequence Treatment
Modern cosmetic dentistry favors starting conservative and escalating only as far as actually needed — not preparing healthy tooth structure for a dramatic result when a simpler option would do. A typical smile makeover draws from these, roughly in order of how much tooth structure they involve:
1. Whitening
The first-line fix for discoloration and often enough on its own. See Teeth Whitening.
2. Bonding & Recontouring
Conservative reshaping and tooth-colored composite for chips, uneven edges, and small gaps — documented to hold up well for years and easy to repair if needed. See Composite Bonding.
3. Orthodontics
Correcting alignment first, often with clear aligners, frequently reduces how much reshaping crowns or veneers need to do afterward. See Invisalign.
4. Veneers & Crowns
For discoloration whitening can't fix, structural damage, or larger shape and spacing changes. See Porcelain Veneers and Crowns.
5. Gum Contouring
When a "gummy smile" or uneven gumline is part of the picture, adjusting gum tissue first establishes the right frame for whatever restorative work follows. Excess gum covering the crowns is often altered passive eruption, treated with aesthetic crown lengthening. See Periodontal Care.
6. Implants
For missing teeth that are part of the overall plan. See Dental Implants.
When It's More Than Cosmetic: Full-Mouth Rehabilitation
For a smaller number of patients — typically significant wear, erosion, or a bite that's collapsed in height over years — a makeover becomes a full-mouth rehabilitation: restoring not just appearance but the bite itself, layering crowns, veneers, and sometimes implants together under one coordinated plan. This is tested carefully with temporaries before anything final is placed, to confirm the new bite feels right and functions correctly, not just that it looks right in a photo.
Care From a Team That Knows You
Dr. Boris Zusin is an expert in general, cosmetic, implant, and dental sleep medicine, with 30+ years of clinical experience and ongoing continuing education. Lena Zusin, RDH works alongside him to make every visit as warm and comfortable as possible.
“Drawing upon our combined skills refined through years of experience and continued education, Lena and I will do everything possible to ensure that your entire dental experience at our office is as good as possible.” — Dr. Boris Zusin
- Uncompromising clinical excellence
- Meticulous attention to detail
- A gentle approach to dentistry
FAQ: Smile Makeover at Zusin Dental, NYC
- Crooked teeth
- Chipped or cracked teeth
- Stained teeth
- Teeth that are shaped or positioned oddly
- Teeth too small or large for your facial features
- Gaps between teeth
- Misaligned or crowded teeth
- Loose or missing teeth
A combination of one or more cosmetic and restorative procedures — such as crowns, implants, and veneers — tailored to your goals, from whitening a single tooth to a full-mouth reconstruction.
It depends on how many procedures are involved and their complexity. Some makeovers finish in a few appointments; more involved plans may span several months.
Digital Smile Design (DSD) uses your photos, scans, and sometimes a facial scan to simulate your new smile digitally before any treatment begins. We then transfer that design into your mouth as a temporary mock-up you can actually see, feel, and speak with — an in-person try-in that catches anything the digital preview alone can't, like how a new tooth length actually feels against your lip or tongue.
Learn More From Our Blog
Real Solutions For Real Patients
A real Zusin Dental smile makeover, before and after porcelain restoration.
A real Zusin Dental smile makeover, before and after crowded, uneven teeth were restored.
A real Zusin Dental smile makeover, before and after cosmetic restoration.
Sources
- Smile Makeover Treatments — Prado N, Hosni S, Darcey J, Aminian A, Malik O, British Dental Journal (2022)
- Evolution of Aesthetic Dentistry — Blatz MB, Chiche G, Bahat O, et al., Journal of Dental Research (2019)
- Digital Smile Design for Computer-Assisted Esthetic Rehabilitation: Two-Year Follow-Up — Meereis CT, de Souza GB, Albino LG, et al., Operative Dentistry (2015)
- Bio-Additive and Enameloplasty Technique for Restoring Anterior Esthetics: 54-Month Clinical Follow-Up — Pontons-Melo JC, Garcia IM, Vargas M, Collares FM, Quintessence International (2020)
- Cosmetic Dentistry — Schmidt CJ, Tatum SA, Current Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery (2006)
- The Periodontal Restorative Interface: Esthetic Considerations — Bennani V, Ibrahim H, Al-Harthi L, Lyons KM, Periodontology 2000 (2017)
- Advanced Adhesive Approach to Support a Minimally Invasive Full Mouth Rehabilitation — Orta A, Newberry N, Torosian A, Masri R, Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry (2025)
- Esthetics in Periodontics and Implantology — Zucchelli G, Sharma P, Mounssif I, Periodontology 2000 (2018)
- Effect of Midline Deviation and Crown Width Disproportion on Perception of Smile Esthetics — Korkut B, Ograk I, Murat N, et al., Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry (2025)
- Association Between Confidence in Smiling and Esthetic Characteristics — Muniz FWMG, Cavalcante DJ, Moreira MMSM, et al., Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry (2017)
- Smile Design: Mechanical Considerations — Alikhasi M, Yousefi P, Afrashtehfar KI, Dental Clinics of North America (2022)
- Biotype Change for the Esthetic Rehabilitation of the Smile — Polack MA, Mahn DH, Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry (2013)
- Artificial Intelligence Versus Conventional Methods in Digital Smile Designing: An Accuracy Study — AbdelHafez M, Afia A, Shaalan O, Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry (2026)
- Digital and Microscopic Tools for Ultimate Esthetics and Precision — Mykhaylyuk N, Mykhaylyuk B, Blatz MB, Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry (2022)
Your Experience Matters To Us
5.0 out of 5 on Google (42 reviews) · 4.9 out of 5 on Zocdoc (222 reviews)
“Knowledge is an understatement when you talk about Dr. Zusin! My family and I have been patients of his for over 20 years. I always feel I am given the best advice and never pressured into any unnecessary treatment.”
Faina S. · View on Google →
“I tried a couple different dentists in NYC and Zusin Dental is the best. They are thorough, they don't try and upsell you services you don't need, and they offer appointments on Saturday. The best cleaning I ever had!”
Gordon T. · View on Google →
“Routinely SUPERB level of care, including Dr. Zusin having made himself available for emergent care when needed. The office is always spotlessly clean and there is no waiting at appointment time. Pain-free dentistry!”
Anil N. · View on Google →
“I have never experienced pain with Dr. Zusin. For a practice in busy Manhattan, their office has a small town feel, very relaxed and personable. Lena is always quick to respond to appointment requests or changes.”
Molly P. · View on Google →
“Dr. Zusin is the best dentist! I have been visiting his office for the majority of my life. He has expertly performed teeth whitening and Invisalign, and continued to save my teeth after I chipped my two front teeth.”
Sasha S. · View on Google →
“The West End office is state of the art and very relaxing. Dr. Zusin and Lena are a great team. No matter the dental problem you will get the best results. I highly recommend them.”
Domingo Q. · View on Google →
Ready to Get Started?
You will never be treated like a statistic at Zusin Dental. Let's talk about what's right for you.
Schedule Your Visit Call 212-877-7475