The Demand For Veneers Has Never Been Higher. Neither Has the Regret
As veneers become more accessible—and more aggressively marketed online—a growing number of patients are realizing that the pursuit of a perfect smile can come at a permanent cost.
Your mouth is having a moment. From the rise of high-tech, stylish flossing routines and statement grillz to the backlash against veneers, oral care is no longer limited to the dentist’s chair. It’s part wellness practice and part personal style. In Marie Claire’s first-ever Teeth Week, we’re exploring why dentistry feels cooler—and more culturally loaded—than ever.
Kody, 39, was casually scrolling Instagram last year when she came across an ad shared by a Miami-based dental clinic. “20 porcelain veneers for just $4,900!” it read. The price felt impossible to ignore. Her teeth had shifted years after wearing braces as a teenager, and compared with the typical $1,000 to $3,000 per tooth, the deal sounded too good to be true.
It was.
Kody says she wasn’t offered anesthesia. Her bill had a mysterious $6,000 additional charge. And the bright, natural-looking smile she thought she signed up for—well, the teeth were large, blocky, and too big for her mouth. Her bite was slightly off, and years later, she needed two root canals. “All you can do is kind of sit there in horror after [the veneers] have already been applied,” she says.
“Veneer regret,” says cosmetic dentist Dr. Jon Marashi, DDS, is at an all-time high, with revision cases making up the majority of his Los Angeles practice. Search “veneer horror story” or “veneergate” on TikTok, and you’ll find countless videos from patients documenting painful procedures, oversized teeth, mounting corrective costs, and the emotional fallout of permanently altering smiles they now barely recognize as their own.
"All you can do is kind of sit there in horror."
Kody Carder
Over the last decade, social media has transformed hyper-white, perfectly symmetrical teeth into an aspirational status symbol—the dental equivalent of Instagram Face. In 2026, veneers are less corrective dentistry and more a social signal of polish and wealth. But as beauty culture increasingly swings away from hyper-optimized and back toward individuality, many patients are beginning to question whether the pursuit of “perfect” teeth came at the expense of looking like themselves at all.
For decades, veneers were largely associated with celebrities, television personalities, and wealthy people whose careers depended on appearance. But in the post-pandemic era—an age shaped by selfies, FaceTime, TikTok, and constant self-surveillance—the demand for a “perfect” smile has surged far beyond Hollywood. Cosmetic dentistry has increasingly been folded into influencer beauty culture, marketed less like a serious medical procedure and more like another aesthetic upgrade. An industry report claims that the dental veneers market reached $2.65 billion in 2025, and is predicted to grow to $2.82 billion by the end of 2026.
The issue isn’t necessarily that cosmetic dentistry has become more accessible. It’s that veneers, which require shaving of your enamel before insertion, are often sold online as a shortcut to transformation, with little discussion of their permanence, upkeep, or risks. The result is an era of cosmetic carelessness where many patients are rushing into drastic procedures to achieve a version of perfection that may not even feel aspirational a few years later.
Jamie*, 41, understands that realization intimately.
At 27, she decided to get veneers after surviving a life-threatening car accident that left cracks running through her two front teeth. “I always had this thought that my two front teeth were just going to crack open and just fall out,” she says. Wanting a quick fix, she searched Google for cosmetic dentists in her area and booked an appointment with the first highly rated provider she found.
About $40,000 later, she walked out with 12 “blindingly white” porcelain veneers. They immediately felt wrong. The veneers didn’t match the color of her natural teeth and felt too large for her mouth. Over time, she says, they caused severe nerve pain and discomfort, necessitating an additional $30,000 of corrective work. “They were awful,” she says. “Any time I would smile, which was very rare, you would be able to tell, like ‘Wow, this girl has really bad veneers.’”
Jamie's teeth before and after she got her veneers corrected.
That pressure has only intensified alongside social media, where dramatic before-and-after transformations routinely go viral, pushing an agenda of sameness. It’s exactly why Amy Lou Wood’s teeth on The White Lotus got so much attention, or society celebrates Margaret Qualley’s smile—uniqueness is hard to come by. We’ve reached a place where dramatic smile transformations appear both casual and attainable. The result is that veneers can begin to feel deceptively low-stakes.
In reality, veneer creation and insertion is an art form. Teeth need to be shaved down. Porcelain needs to be crafted with a realistic appearance in mind. And technical skill is just as paramount as artistry. In the States, the result is an exclusive, highly expensive barrier to entry, pushing many interested consumers abroad, where work is nearly half the price. But cutting costs often means cutting corners. Singer Kehlani revealed in a 2022 TikTok video that she felt her veneers, which were done overseas, were “too white,” “square,” and made flossing impossible. "The amount of long, expensive dental work you are going to need after you go this route is five or six times the amount," the singer said. "Dental work can not be one of the things where you sacrifice quality because of price."
Patients should look for a licensed dentist in the United States with strong training in cosmetic dentistry, “Ideally someone who has completed continuing education focused on aesthetic restorative work,” says New York City-based cosmetic dentist Dr. Michael J. Wei, DDS. “Membership in professional organizations such as the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD) can also be a positive indicator, although what matters most is consistent clinical experience and proven results rather than titles alone.”
Perhaps the most alarming regret, however, doesn’t come from botched work at all. In a world obsessed with instant gratification, extremism often trumps moderation, and with it a degree of permanence that may never have been necessary at all. “A lot of the regret stems from people getting work they probably didn’t need in the first place,” says Dr. Richard Lipari, DDS, a cosmetic dentist in Chappaqua, NY. He notes that concerns like mild discoloration or small spacing issues can often be treated through whitening, bonding, or orthodontics instead.
Influencer Alix Earle has spoken candidly about experiencing that feeling after a dentist persuaded her to get ten veneers instead of the two she originally requested. “It was really scary for me,” she said in a TikTok video last summer. “I was like, ‘What did I just do?’ I had such good teeth and, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I have to keep up with this for the rest of my life.’”
“All these years later, people want to look like themselves again.”
Dr. Jon Marashi, DDS
That permanence is part of what makes veneer regret uniquely emotional. Veneers often require lifelong maintenance once the natural enamel beneath them has been altered. Patients aren’t simply regretting a beauty decision—they’re reckoning with the fact that they permanently changed a part of themselves to meet a beauty standard that may already be evolving.
“For a minute, big, white teeth were kind of a fad like bell bottoms—at one point, they couldn't make the bell bottom flare wide enough, just like teeth couldn't be big or white enough," Dr. Marashi says. Now, he says, the pendulum is beginning to swing in the opposite direction. More patients are coming into his office asking for softer, more natural-looking smiles that better fit their faces. “All these years later, people want to look like themselves again,” he says.
For Kody, that realization arrived only after the damage had already been done. She has since reported the Miami clinic to the Florida Department of Health and says it is currently under investigation. Now, when she talks about veneers, she urges people to slow down before making permanent decisions in pursuit of temporary beauty trends.
Unlike most aesthetic trends, your natural teeth don’t simply grow back once they’re gone.
*Subject's name has been changed to protect her privacy
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Meet The Experts
Dr. Richard Lipari is a cosmetic dentist at Lipari & Mangiameli Dentistry in Chappaqua, NY. He focuses on cosmetic, restorative, and implant dentistry.
Dr. Michael J. Wei is a New York City-based cosmetic dentist and the owner of Dr. Michael J. Wei, DDS.
Dr. Jon Marashi is a celebrity cosmetic dentist based in Los Angeles. His patients include Cher, Lindsay Lohan, Matt Damon, Christina Aguilera, and Kate Hudson.
