Ah, TikTok. The endless well of information into which people reach for relationship and medical advice from uneducated twenty-somethings alone in their parents’ house, rather than consulting a medical professional with years of experience. And then they wonder why teenagers are eating Tide-pods. Fortunately for us, we consulted one of the most sought after celebrity dentists on the planet, Dr. Michael Apa, with offices in New York, LA, Dubai, and now Miami, who is personally responsible for some of the most photographed million dollar smiles today, such as Kylie and Kendall Jenner, among others.
Esquire: What is the dumbest thing people do with their teeth?
Dr. Apa: Invisalign. Invisalign is literally just braces, but you have to keep them on for 22 hours a day, and people just don’t do it. Sure, it looks a bit better than braces, especially if you’re older, but if you want your teeth realigned, you have to keep them on, and people will take any excuse to keep them off, and then they forget about it, and that’s just wasted money. Another one is no-prep veneers. There was a company called Lumineers who claimed that you don’t have to drill your teeth, and you can just stick your veneers straight onto your normal teeth, and people went crazy for this because it was cheaper. For some reason it really caught fire amongst the Middle East dentistry demographic, and many dentists out here started applying these methods and just sticking veneers straight onto your teeth, and it caused a massive amount of problems: bad breath, bad gums, pain, expensive removal surgery. Every problem you could think of, this caused. So please, do not get no-prep veneers. And do not get medical advice from TikTok.
Esquire: One thing you see a lot on Instagram is people posting photos of their teeth completely shaved down to these little stubs before getting veneers placed over them – is that bad?
Dr. Apa: Oh yeah. Terrible. You want to keep as much of your original tooth as possible. And when you shave your tooth down to a little stub, ten years down the line, that’ll be a complete disaster. Regardless, you do have to change veneers every 10-15 years anyway, but when you chip off that much of your tooth and then you try to remove the veneer to implant a new one, it’s going to become difficult and painful.
Esquire: How has that become such a trend if it’s obviously not a good thing?
Dr. Apa: It’s people who go abroad for medical tourism. That doesn’t mean there aren’t exceptional dentists in, say, Turkey or Colombia, but if you’re trying to get medical surgery, and your main concern is price, you are going to get what you pay for. And these dentists go in and cut the teeth down because it’s quick and inexpensive, and then these TikTok morons proudly take pictures of it in hopes of going viral and it becomes a trend and we end up where we are now. And if it’s a financial risk from the start, then you shouldn’t do it, because this is a continuous financial investment. If you’re taking your last dimes to do your veneers, then don’t do it. It’s like giving someone a Ferrari and saying ‘manage this’. If they blow a tire, they’re screwed.
“Do not get medical advice from TikTok”
Dr. Michael Apa
Esquire: Whitening tooth paste – does that even work? What about when it says ‘guaranteed whiter teeth in X amount of days’?
Dr. Apa: Not at all. Complete scam. The only thing that will whiten your teeth is literal bleach, and there is no bleach in toothpaste. All they do is partly remove stains because they have silica in them, but they will not whiten. And when you brush your teeth it’ll remove, say, coffee stains, but it will not literally whiten. And if a toothpaste puts in hydrogen peroxide in their toothpaste and says it will literally whiten your teeth, they are full of it. It’s nonsense.
Esquire: Mouth wash? I’ve read that they kill the necessary bacteria in your mouth.
Dr. Apa: Mouthwash is fine, but it’s the one with high alcohol that is bad. Listerine. Comet. Those are a no-go. Read the alcohol contents on the label: if it’s high, then stay away.
Esquire: And this new charcoal trend that’s rife on TikTok? Buying black toothpaste, nonetheless people who insist on making their own charcoal?
Dr. Apa: It’s just nonsense. It does nothing for your teeth. If anything, charcoal can upset your stomach.
Esquire: How much of bad teeth is bad genetics and how much can you have control over?
Dr. Apa: It’s true, genetics do play a big part, but you can also alter that with just really good hygiene, good dentistry from an early age, making sure you’re taking care of your teeth. We’ll have patients who come in at 18 years old, and every single tooth has a filling, and they’re all just terrible, and they would’ve almost been better off not getting those fillings at all. Because someone can have a tiny cavity, and then a dentist cuts a hole twice the size to fill it, creating much more leakage and other issues. And just another reason why everybody needs an electric toothbrush, because nobody actually knows how to brush their teeth.
Esquire: Out of all your geographical clients, who are the most finicky?
Dr. Apa: In the medical field, everyone’s the same. People will say “oh, I don’t want any gas, I don’t want a movie, I want it to be all natural,” but the second the drill comes out they cry and beg for the gas, headphones, the movie. Everyone’s the same, from Dubai to LA. The only difference is that the older patients in Dubai – those in their 50s and 60s – have slightly worse teeth, simply because, growing up, proper dental care wasn’t as readily available. There weren’t Crest commercials airing in Dubai in the ’80s, so people didn’t have the same information as, say, Americans did.
Esquire: What is one basic thing you wish the every day person would do more with their teeth?
Dr. Apa: Just come for cleanings. They don’t have to be all that often, but you can’t wait years in between them. Come for relatively regular cleanings, and your teeth and oral health will thank you.
