Porcelain Veneers
Union Square, San Francisco
Porcelain layered by hand to the architecture of your face.
A veneer is not a covering. It is a piece of porcelain designed for one face by Dr. Samadian, who then makes it, layered and shaded by hand rather than milled from a block, and bonded to enamel that has barely been touched. That is a different discipline from a shell fitted to a prepared stump, and it is the discipline this practice runs.
The brief is never a tooth. It is your lip line, your profile, the way your face moves when it speaks — so the smile composes with you rather than sitting on you. And you wear that design, in your own mouth, before any of it is made permanent.
The maker
Amin Samadian
DDS · Master of Esthetic Dentistry, NYU Rosenthal
More than a thousand smiles, designed and built by hand. He draws your case and he makes it — his hands on the porcelain, master ceramists alongside him, their comments worked back into the design as it goes. Most cosmetic practices hand that stretch of the case to a stranger.
Beneath the aesthetics is a reconstructive foundation most cosmetic practices do not have — bite, jaw joint and airway. It is why these smiles are built to be lived in, not only photographed.
- Mastership
- Esthetic Dentistry, NYU Rosenthal Institute
- Diplomate
- American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine
- Fellow
- American Academy of Craniofacial Pain
- Fellow
- International Congress of Oral Implantologists
- San Francisco
- Beverly Hills
- New York
Begin
Start with a conversation
Leave your details and the studio will arrange a private consultation with Dr. Samadian. If you would rather describe the smile you have in mind at length, there is a fuller form at the end of this page.
or call (415) 392-5025Real patients
Smiles designed by Dr. Samadian
Individual results vary
Documented cases
The work itself
Photographed at the practice. One patient per frame — where each patient started, and what was built for them.
Actual patients of Dr. Samadian. Individual results vary.
The archive
23 further cases
How it works
Designed to your face
Lip line, profile, your smile in motion. The design starts with your face — never a catalogue tooth.
Minimal enamel, always
The first question is how little we can remove. Where anatomy allows: nothing at all.
Wear it before it is permanent
A trial smile, in your own mouth, in real life. What you approve is what gets made.
Designed and made by the same hands
Dr. Samadian designs your case and makes it — porcelain worked one tooth at a time, under magnification, with master ceramists alongside him and their comments taken back into the design. No printed smiles.
Built to your bite
Veneers are tried in before they are bonded, so shade and fit are confirmed while everything is still reversible. Once bonded, the bite is checked and adjusted — veneers that look right but meet wrongly are the ones that chip.
Our standards
What we will not do
Veneers are very good at shape, proportion, permanent discolouration and small alignment corrections — the things that do not respond to whitening or orthodontics alone.
They are not a repair for an unhealthy mouth, and they are not reversible. Enamel removed to make room for a veneer does not grow back, which is why the amount removed should be as little as the case allows, and why we would rather talk you out of a case than into one:
- 01Active gum disease or untreated decay is dealt with first — veneers do not sit on an unstable foundation
- 02Heavy grinding needs managing before, not after; unmanaged, it is the fastest route to a fractured veneer
- 03If one or two teeth are the problem, one or two veneers are the answer — a full set is not automatically the better result
The trial smile
Why you should see it before it is permanent
Photographs and screen mock-ups are useful for planning and poor at predicting how a smile will actually feel. Teeth read differently in your own face, at conversational distance, in ordinary light.
Wearing the design as a temporary answers the question that keeps people out of the chair for years — what if I hate them. You see the shape, the size and the colour in your own face while all three can still be changed, and what you ask for is worked back into the ceramics rather than arriving too late to matter.
The ceramics
The hand that designs it is the hand that makes it
Most practices write a prescription, pick a shade off a tab and post the case out. A technician who has never seen the patient interprets it from photographs. It is the ordinary arrangement, and it is where most of the character is lost.
Here Dr. Samadian designs your smile and makes it. Shade and translucency are matched against you rather than against a tab, the porcelain is worked by hand, and his own hands are on the ceramics through to the finish. Master ceramists work the case with him, and what they see in it goes back into the design — a conversation over the work, not a prescription posted out.
And it is never one pass. The design keeps moving — shape, size, proportion, colour — through the trial smile in your own mouth and through the ceramics themselves, so by the time anything is bonded you already know the smile you are getting. None of it should be a surprise on the day.
Living with them
How long they last and what shortens it
Well-made porcelain veneers, properly bonded and correctly loaded, last many years. What ends them early is almost always mechanical — grinding, biting nails or pens, opening things with your teeth — not the porcelain wearing out.
They do not stain the way natural enamel does, but the natural teeth around them still will, so the shade of the whole smile drifts if the rest is left unattended. Whitening, if you want it, happens before veneers are made — the porcelain is matched to the final shade, never the other way round.
Talk it through
Not sure which option applies to you?
Patient films
Patients, on camera
Filmed at the practice. Individual results vary.
The ceramics
He designs it. He makes it.
No printed smiles. Porcelain worked one tooth at a time, under magnification — master ceramists alongside him, what they see in the case worked back into the design.
Begin
Start your smile design
Tell us what you want changed. You will receive our process in full — how a smile is designed and built in this studio, step by step, and what the work asks of you.
60-second self-check
Are veneers right for you?
Four questions. You'll see a plain answer straight away, and can send it to the studio to prepare your consultation.
Question 1 of 4
Questions
Common questions
Can I see what my veneers will look like before they are permanent?
Yes — that is the point of a trial smile. The design is made as a temporary you wear in your own mouth, in daylight and in photographs, before any final ceramics are made. You tell us what to change, and what you approve is what gets made.
Are porcelain veneers reversible?
No. Preparing a tooth for a veneer removes a thin layer of enamel, and enamel does not grow back. That is why we remove as little as the case allows, and why we will steer you towards bonding, whitening or orthodontics when one of those would achieve the same result.
How many veneers will I need?
It depends on how far your smile line extends when you talk and laugh, and on which teeth actually need changing. Sometimes it is two. A full set is not automatically the better result, and we will not quote one by default.
Who actually makes the veneers?
Dr. Samadian does. He designs your smile and makes it, his hands on the porcelain through to the finish, working with master ceramists whose comments go back into the design as the case develops. The shade is matched against you rather than against a shade tab, and nothing is printed or milled from a block — the case never leaves the hands of the person accountable for the result.
Do veneers stain?
Porcelain resists staining far better than natural enamel. The natural teeth around them do still stain, so the smile can drift out of match over time if the rest is neglected. Any whitening you want is done before the veneers are made, so the porcelain is matched to the final shade.
What if I grind my teeth?
Grinding needs managing before veneers, not after — it is the most common reason a veneer fractures. That usually means a night guard and sometimes adjusting how the teeth meet. It does not rule veneers out; it changes the sequence.
How long do porcelain veneers last?
Many years when they are well made, properly bonded and not overloaded. What shortens that is mechanical — grinding, biting nails or pens, using teeth as tools — rather than the porcelain wearing out. Regular checks catch a bond starting to fail before the veneer does.
Keep reading
