Tracey from Tauranga — 8 Emax Press smile makeover veneers

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.

Tracey is 44, a Tauranga hairdresser who spends her days a few inches from other people’s faces, finishing their look and watching them light up in the mirror. Her own front teeth had gone the other way — worn short and uneven from years of grinding, two of them slightly grey after old fillings, and a gap she had stopped showing in photos. “I make people feel good about how they look all day,” she said in the post-trip survey. “I wanted a smile that matched the chair.” A Tauranga private clinic had quoted her around NZD 16,000 for the eight upper teeth, and on a hairdresser’s income that was simply out of reach.

She sent us six phone photos of her smile on a Sunday night. We returned a written, itemised NZD quote within 24 hours: 8 Emax Press veneers at NZD 600 per tooth = NZD 4,800 (May 2026 Picasso price list, 1 NZD = 15,000 VND), with a 7-year warranty.

What she wanted the makeover to do

Tracey was clear that she did not want a Hollywood wall of identical white blocks — she sees too many of those in magazines and finds them obvious. Her brief, in her words: “Natural, a bit brighter than my skin, even but not perfect. I wanted people to think I’d just looked after them, not bought them.”

The design conversation covered three things:

• Material: Emax Press, the same pressed lithium-disilicate she had been quoted for at home, chosen for strength and a layered, translucent edge rather than a flat opaque look.
• The grinding: because wear was the original cause, we discussed a night guard from day one so the new veneers are protected. We sent the Turkey teeth explained page so she could see why over-aggressive prep on worn teeth is a trap.
• Shade and shape: a touch brighter than her natural enamel, length restored to suit her face, with subtle individual character left in so no two veneers were carbon copies.

She booked her flights a month out.

The 11-day trip

The Portrait Sitting was the part she rated highest. “I was honestly scared of looking overdone. Sitting there picking the shade against my own skin, with someone who does this every day telling me what would and wouldn’t work — that’s where I relaxed.”

What it cost end-to-end

Against the Tauranga benchmark of around NZD 12,000 to NZD 20,000 for an eight-unit makeover, the gross saving was NZD 7,200 to NZD 15,200, and the net saving after travel and stay was roughly NZD 3,620 to NZD 11,620.

She took the trip over a quiet stretch between bookings and used six days of leave.

The thing she didn’t expect

In her words: “I thought the hard part would be the dental work. It wasn’t — it was the wait between getting the temporaries and the finals coming back. I’d already fallen in love with the temporary smile and got impatient. Then the permanents went on and they were better, with this glassy edge the temporaries didn’t have. I felt silly for worrying.”

We have noted this in the pre-trip pack — that the temporaries are a preview, not the finished material — because several survey responses mention the same impatience.

What aftercare looked like back in Tauranga

Tracey’s night guard arrived by courier two weeks after she got home, fitted from the day-10 impression. Her own NZ dentist did a bite check at the four-week mark, which she had booked before flying out; he reviewed the occlusion and signed the case off, and we filed his report.

She has had one 6-month check since, clean, and wears the guard nightly to protect the work from the grinding that wore her teeth down in the first place.

Tracey’s three pieces of advice

From her survey response:

1. “Bring photos of smiles you like AND ones you hate. I showed them three I thought were too fake and that told them more than the ones I liked.”
2. “If you grind, sort the night guard out as part of the plan, not as an afterthought. That’s what wrecked my real teeth and I didn’t want it wrecking these.”
3. “Don’t panic during the temporary phase. The finals look different and better. Trust the process and enjoy the city while you wait.”

See also

• Smile makeover pillar — the design protocol, materials, and NZD pricing.
• Veneer care tips — what Tracey was told for home maintenance and night-guard wear.
• Tauranga to Vietnam dental 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.