Patient stories
Linh from Auckland — 10 Emax Press smile makeover veneers
Real patient story — a 30s Auckland nail salon owner travels to Picasso Dental Clinic for a 10-unit Emax Press smile makeover at the May 2026 NZD price. NZD 6,000 clinical cost.
Linh, 34, an Auckland nail salon owner, travelled to Picasso Dental Clinic in Hanoi for a 10-unit Emax Press smile makeover — NZD 6,000 total clinical cost (May 2026 Picasso price list, 1 NZD = 15,000 VND), a single 10-day trip timed around a family visit to Vietnam, with the design locked during the Portrait Sitting step on day 2.
Real patient story, shared with permission. This patient has consented to Picasso Dental Clinic publishing their experience to help other New Zealand patients. Treatment, material, NZD price, and timeline are accurate to the case archive. Reviewed by Dr. Emily Nguyen, Founding Clinical Director.
Linh is in her mid-30s and runs a nail salon in Auckland. Her wedding was on the calendar and she had a long-overdue family trip to Vietnam already half-booked, so the timing lined up almost too neatly. Her front teeth were uneven, two sat darker than the rest from years of coffee between clients, and one had carried a chipped edge since her twenties. She had been quoted around NZD 20,000 at an Auckland private clinic for a full upper makeover — a number she could not square with a wedding in the same year.
She sent us nine smile photographs the night she found us. We returned a written, itemised NZD quote within 24 hours: 10 Emax Press units at NZD 600 per tooth = NZD 6,000 (May 2026 Picasso price list, 1 NZD = 15,000 VND), with a 7-year warranty.
Designing the smile, not just replacing teeth
A makeover is different from a single repair — you are designing the whole front of the mouth as one piece, so the Portrait Sitting step does most of the heavy lifting. From the post-trip survey: “I went in thinking I’d point at a photo and they’d copy it. It was nothing like that. They asked how I laugh, how much tooth shows, what I do for work, even how I hold my mouth on camera.”
The pre-trip conversation settled three things:
- Material: Emax Press, pressed lithium disilicate — the same ceramic she had been quoted in Auckland, milled from a single pressed ingot so all ten units carry the same strength and translucency.
- The set, not the tooth: shade and shape balanced across all ten units so nothing stood out, with the chipped edge and the darker teeth folded into one even result.
- Recourse: written warranty, travel reimbursement if a re-do is ever needed, and a New Zealand follow-up care note for her own dentist.
Crucially, she spoke with a New Zealand-trained clinician before she paid a cent. She booked the flight two weeks later.
The 10-day trip
| Day | What happened |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | AKL to HAN via Singapore. Arrival evening. Hotel check-in. |
| Day 2 | Consultation 10:00. Photographs, OPG, iTero digital scan. Portrait Sitting in the afternoon — shade, length, midline, edge shape, and how the smile sits when she laughs fully. |
| Day 3 | Preparation appointment, conservative reduction across 10 upper teeth. Temporaries fitted so she never left without a smile. |
| Days 4–7 | Lab phase. We asked her to live with the temporaries and flag any speech or bite concerns. She spent the gap with family — long lunches, a few days at her grandmother’s. |
| Day 8 | Try-in and try-on. Two units adjusted for length before bonding. |
| Day 9 | Final fit. Bonding, occlusion check, photographs. |
| Day 10 | Review and polish, then fly home. |
The family gap in the middle was the part she rated highest. “The appointments didn’t feel like dental appointments — they felt like errands I ran between seeing cousins.”
What it cost end-to-end
| Line item | NZD |
|---|---|
| 10 Emax Press units (clinical) | 6,000 |
| Consultation + OPG + iTero | included |
| Return flight Auckland to Hanoi | 1,900 |
| Hotel — 10 nights, mid-range | 1,000 |
| Food and local transport | 550 |
| Total | 9,450 |
Against an NZ benchmark of NZD 15,000 to 25,000 for a full upper makeover, the gross saving was NZD 9,000 to 19,000, and the net saving after travel was NZD 5,550 to 15,550. Because the trip doubled as a family visit she would have taken anyway, she counted the flights as a cost she was already paying.
The thing she didn’t expect
In her words: “I expected the bond day to be the hard part. It wasn’t — it was day three with the temporaries. My bite felt off on the back left, like I was chewing on a pebble, and I panicked a little. I went in the next morning, they ground it down in ten minutes, and it was perfect after that. I just hadn’t known temporaries could feel slightly high and that it’s an easy fix.”
We have added a line about this to the pre-trip pack. Real patient stories like this one are how we find the gaps.
What aftercare looked like back in Auckland
Linh booked her NZ follow-up before she flew, so it was confirmed. Her own dentist checked the bite three weeks after she got home and signed off the case; we received the report and filed it. We reminded her that ceramic still needs looking after — thorough brushing, regular professional cleans, and a night guard, since salon days can be clenchy.
She has had one 6-monthly check since, clean. The next is scheduled.
Linh’s three pieces of advice
From her survey response:
- “Stack it onto a trip you’re already taking. I built mine around seeing family, so the time away didn’t feel like a separate dental holiday — it just felt like a longer holiday.”
- “Leave real margin before a wedding or big event. Don’t bond the week before. Weeks, not days — I wanted time for adjustments and I was glad I had it.”
- “Talk about the whole smile as a set, not one tooth at a time. Ask how they balance shade and shape across every unit. That conversation is the difference between teeth that match and teeth that just look bright.”
See also
- Smile makeover pillar — the design protocol, materials, and NZD pricing.
- Veneer care tips — what Linh was told for home maintenance.
- Auckland to Vietnam smile makeover travel page — local benchmark and route logistics.
Request your own free NZD smile makeover quote
About this page
Medically reviewed by
Dr. Emily Nguyen
Founding Clinical Director, Picasso Dental Clinic
DDS · Founder and Clinical Director, Picasso Dental Clinic group
Clinical focus: Cosmetic dentistry · Veneers · Smile design
Dr. Emily Nguyen founded Picasso Dental Clinic in 2013 (originally Serenity International Dental Clinic) and led its 2023 rebrand. She sets clinical standards across the group's six branches in Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Lat, and personally reviews cosmetic protocols including the Portrait Sitting workflow for veneers and smile makeovers.
Frequently asked questions
Is Linh a real patient?
Yes. Linh is a real Picasso Dental Clinic patient who has given written permission for us to share their experience with other New Zealand patients considering treatment. Treatment, material/brand, NZD price, and timeline are accurate to the case archive.
What did the smile makeover cost in NZD?
10 Emax Press units at NZD 600 per tooth = NZD 6,000 total clinical cost (May 2026 Picasso price list, 1 NZD = 15,000 VND). This excludes flights, accommodation, and any pre-trip work.
Why ten units for a smile makeover and not eight?
Linh's smile-line showed ten upper teeth when she laughed fully. Stopping at eight would have left two teeth a different shade and shape on show in wide photos, so the design ran across all ten to keep the arch reading as one set.
What warranty applies?
7-year warranty on the Emax Press units from Picasso. The manufacturer warranty runs in parallel. It covers fracture or debonding not caused by trauma or untreated grinding. See the full /warranty/ page for tier-by-tier terms.