Mascha was originally from Germany; she’d had a good education, and was used to an atmosphere in which a truly beautiful smile was not the highest priority. But her life changed dramatically when she moved to the United States. With her natural good looks, she decided to pursue an acting career — and now a beautiful smile was very important to her work. Yet Mascha found herself uncomfortable about smiling, because her expression was guarded and reserved to protect herself from the stress of auditions. In fact, she worried that she’d lost some auditions because of her discomfort. So a dazzling smile became her goal. When she came in for a consult, we realized she’d had a potpourri of dental work with many dentists over time, and the different elements of her repairs didn’t really match in color or shape. Mascha had an unusually broad smile which revealed almost all of her teeth, and a great deal of gum. We began by correcting her gumline position to reduce the visible gum area and balance her smile from right to left, and then prepared 12 of her upper teeth for porcelain veneers and crowns. The veneers and crowns gave Mascha the dazzling smile she needed to succeed at her auditions. The day we took her photos she was on her way to try out for a play, and told us she felt confident she’d get the part because her smile no longer held her back.