The National Smile Transformation competition, offering the chance for one person to undergo a complete smile makeover free of charge, has received a great response. 11 entries have been shortlisted and now it’s over to you!
Launched as part of National Smile Month by London dental practice Elleven, the responses showed that people are unhappy with their smiles for lots of reasons:
Take, for example, one woman who had an accident involving a glass table when she was younger, leaving her with stumps for teeth. Left susceptible to abscesses, she had the stumps removed, has worn a plate ever since and is unable to eat solid food.
She wrote: ‘Having absolutely no confidence and only talking to people when necessary, to win would be my chance to start living a normal life.’
Health and genetics have also played their part, as demonstrated by one entrant who wrote: ‘A combination of health issues, osteopenia [low bone density], 30 years of smoking (I quit 18 months ago) and being genetically cursed by my father’s teeth, have all taken their toll. I am in constant pain, with the majority of my few remaining teeth now very loose, and I cannot chew properly.’
Telling a sadly familiar story, one woman was not taught the importance of good oral hygiene as a child, resulting in teeth she describes as ‘hideous’. Like all of the contestants, she is lacking in confidence, which, in this particular case, is holding her back from going to university.
Sameer Patel, clinical director at Elleven, said: ‘We have been truly moved by the stories shared by the entrants to this competition. Too often we see people who are living in dental pain, with a smile they desperately try to hide and no way of funding the treatment to make it better and we understand the impact this can have on the individual. This is our way to help someone change the way they see themselves and to encourage healthy, happy smiles.’
To read each entrant’s story and to help them move onto the next round, visit www.facebook.com/ellevendental and vote for your chosen contestant before 11 August 2013. The five with the most votes on this date will make it through to the final stage, from which the winner will be chosen by a panel that includes a psychologist, Professor Tim Newton of King’s College London Dental Institute, to ensure the emotional impact of the contestants’ smiles receives its due, dental experts and former England Rugby captain Lewis Moody MBE.
You will then be able to follow the winner’s smile transformation through Elleven’s website to see for yourself the difference the new healthy and happy smile has made to this person.
Elleven Dental is an exclusive, multi award-winning dental practice in the heart of London’s West End. Voted ‘Overall Best UK Dental Practice’, ‘Best Practice in London’ and ‘Most Attractive Dental Practice in the UK’ by peers and industry experts. Elleven’s team of expert dental professionals share the ethos that they’re there to help patients achieve a healthy and happy smile using the very best that modern dentistry and orthodontics have to offer. They strive to enhance the whole patient journey — from the moment a patient walks into the practice to the time they leave, delivering a first-class service in an environment that’s luxurious, comfortable and reassuring. For more information on Elleven visit www.ellevendental.com.
Expert Panel
The expert panel of judges includes Dr. Shivani Patel, Clinical and Award Winning Orthodontist at Elleven, Professor Tim Newton, Professor of Psychology as Applied to Dentistry at King's College London Dental Institute, and Lewis Moody OBE, former England Rugby captain.
