Thao from Wellington — 8 Lisi veneers, smile makeover

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.

Thao is a pharmacist in her mid-thirties, based in Wellington, who spends her days a metre away from people across a dispensary counter. She had never disliked her teeth exactly, but the front eight had dulled and crowded slightly over the years, and she wanted them to look deliberate and polished rather than something she covered with a closed-mouth smile in work photos. A Wellington private clinic had quoted her around NZD 18,000 for the makeover she described.

She sent us photographs and her existing quote. We returned a written, itemised NZD quote within 24 hours: 8 Lisi veneers at NZD 800 per tooth = NZD 6,400 (May 2026 Picasso price list, 1 NZD = 15,000 VND), with a 7-year warranty.

The design conversation that decided it for her

From her post-trip survey: “My worry was not the price or the travel. It was that eight matching veneers would look like a row of bathroom tiles. I see enough over-whitened smiles at work to know exactly what I did not want.”

So the pre-trip discussion was almost entirely about design, not logistics:

• Material: Lisi pressed lithium-disilicate, chosen for its translucency so the veneers catch light the way enamel does rather than sitting flat and opaque.
• The Portrait Sitting: a dedicated design session where shade, length, tooth proportion, and edge character are mapped before anything is prepared. We told her to bring photos of her own younger smile, not magazine smiles.
• Recourse: a written 7-year warranty, travel reimbursement if a re-do is ever needed, and a New Zealand follow-up care note for her own dentist.

As a pharmacist she read every line of the plan before she booked. She flew about four weeks later.

The 10-day trip

The temporaries phase was the part she rated highest. “Being able to walk around in the trial smile for a few days and then dial the colour down was the whole point. In Wellington I would have committed to a shade off a chart and hoped.”

What it cost end-to-end

Against an NZ benchmark of NZD 16,000 to NZD 20,000 for the same makeover, the gross saving was NZD 9,600 to NZD 13,600, and the net saving after travel was NZD 5,800 to NZD 9,800.

She took the trip across a public holiday, so it cost her six days of annual leave.

The thing she didn’t expect

In her words: “I expected the prep day to be the ordeal. It wasn’t — that was fine. What caught me out was how flat everything tastes for the first day in temporaries because you are chewing carefully and only on one side. I thought something was wrong. The clinician explained it is just caution, not the veneers, and by the time I got the finals I had forgotten about it.”

We have since added a short note about the temporaries diet to the pre-trip pack. Real patient stories like this one are how we find those gaps.

What aftercare looked like back in Wellington

Thao booked her own NZ dentist before she flew, so the follow-up was confirmed in advance. Four weeks after the trip her dentist reviewed the bite and the margins and signed the case off. We received the report and filed it.

She has had one six-monthly check since, clean, and a hygiene visit. Her dentist also fitted her for a nightguard as routine protection for the new veneers.

Thao’s three pieces of advice

From her survey response:

1. “Bring proof of what you actually want — old photos of your own smile beat any reference picture of a stranger. The design session is only as good as what you walk in with.”
2. “Judge the temporaries in real daylight, not in the chair. I checked mine outside the clinic and by a window, and that is why I caught the shade before it became permanent.”
3. “Sort your NZ dentist and a nightguard before you go. Knowing someone at home would check the result, and that I would protect it at night, made the whole decision feel sensible rather than reckless.”

See also

• Smile makeover pillar — the protocol, materials, and NZD pricing.
• Veneer care tips — what Thao was told for home maintenance.
• Wellington 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.

Last clinically reviewed

28 May 2026

Published by

Picasso Dental Clinic

Review policy

Every medical procedure page on this site is reviewed by a named Picasso clinician before publication and re-checked when pricing, materials, or protocols change. Source documents are linked at the bottom of each page.