See It Before It’s Yours for Good
A smile makeover combines whatever your teeth need, porcelain veneers, crowns, bonding, whitening, or Invisalign, into one coordinated plan instead of years of separate fixes. In San Antonio, Dr. Gilberto Tostado and Dr. Karina Acuña build your treatment plan for the smile you actually want, the one you stopped showing in photos, started covering with your hand, or learned to keep quiet behind in a meeting. That’s not vanity. It’s a smile you deserve to stop working around.
A coordinated plan solves that, not by stacking treatments on top of each other, but by shaping your whole smile as one result. Call us for a consultation, and Dr. Tostado or Dr. Acuña will look at your teeth, listen to what you want changed, and tell you honestly what’s possible before you commit to anything.
What Changes When Your Smile Is Planned Together
- Every tooth is matched to the others and to your face, not treated as a separate problem on a separate visit.
- You see a physical model of the finished result before anything is permanent, so what you don’t like gets caught early, not after it’s bonded in.
- One coordinated plan is usually less disruptive than a string of unrelated appointments spread across years, because color, shape, and fit are all decided together, once.
- The result holds up to what you actually do with your teeth: eating, talking, laughing, without the follow-up touch-ups a piecemeal fix tends to need.
The Process: From Wax-Up to Reality
Every plan starts with a conversation, not a prescription. From there, here’s what happens:
- Your final result. Once you’re satisfied with every detail, your permanent restorations are placed and refined in the practice’s on-site lab until they look like they’ve always belonged there.
- Your consultation. Dr. Tostado or Dr. Acuña reviews your oral health with full diagnostic imaging, listens to what you want to change, and offers recommendations, not a sales pitch.
- Your diagnostic wax-up. Before anything touches your teeth, a physical wax model of the proposed result is built so you can see the exact shape and proportions in front of you. Changes are easy here, because nothing is final yet.
- Your trial smile. You wear provisional temporaries that resemble the final design, so you can see and feel how your new smile works in real life, at dinner, in conversation, in photos, before committing to it permanently.
Depending on what you want to change, that plan might draw on one treatment or several: porcelain veneers for aesthetic improvements, porcelain crowns for a tooth that’s cracked or worn down, dental bonding for chips and gaps, Zoom whitening for years of discoloration, SureSmile Aligners for teeth you’ve wished were straighter, or dental implants for a tooth that’s missing altogether. You won’t be sold treatments you don’t need. Whatever combination applies to you, it’s decided at your consultation, not before it.
The Doctors Shaping Your Results
Dr. Gilberto Tostado, DDS, MS, trained for three years as a prosthodontist at the University of Southern California, the specialty focused on designing full smiles rather than single teeth. That’s exactly what a plan combining veneers, crowns, and whitening needs: one person shaping every piece, by hand, in the practice’s on-site lab, so nothing looks like it was added on separately.
Dr. Karina Acuña Malo, DDS, AEGD, completed her Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency at UT Health San Antonio, with a focus on minimally invasive technique, so when your plan calls for a crown or veneer, she preserves as much natural tooth as the result allows. Her background as a certified health coach also brings nutrition and overall well-being into your plan, not just your teeth.
Together, they’ve practiced in San Antonio since 2015, working side by side on cases that call for both a prosthodontist’s precision and Dr. Acuña’s more conservative eye. That combination is exactly what a smile makeover, several treatments working as one plan, needs to hold together.
From Our Patients
What a Smile Makeover Costs?
No single price fits every plan, since each one combines different treatments. As a starting point: a single porcelain veneer or crown runs $1,584 to $1,684 per tooth, sometimes with an added custom shade-matching fee for single-tooth cases. A case that includes an implant costs more: extraction runs about $460, a bone graft (when needed) around $440, and the implant itself $5,560 to $8,000 per tooth. Porcelain is what mainly drives the cost. For a full case, a $500 fee covers your prototype, the physical wax-up model, and it converts to a credit toward treatment if you move forward.
Beyond that, you’re working with a fee-for-service practice that files PPO claims on your behalf, offers financing through CareCredit and Cherry, and runs an in-house membership plan for patients without insurance. Every cost is put in writing before treatment starts.
Is a Smile Makeover Right for You?
You’re likely a good candidate if more than one thing about your smile bothers you, whether that’s a mix of discoloration, chips, gaps, or a tooth you’ve never liked the shape of, and you’d rather solve it all at once than keep patching individual problems as they come up. It’s also worth considering if dental anxiety has kept you from ever getting this far. The pace at 5 Star Dental Group is patient-led, with weighted blankets, noise-canceling headphones, and sedation options available if you want them, and no judgment for however long it’s been since your last visit.
If your gums are inflamed or you have active decay, that gets addressed first through general dentistry or periodontal treatment, so your makeover is built on a healthy foundation rather than over a problem that’s still active. Dr. Tostado or Dr. Acuña will tell you plainly at your consultation if that’s the case, and what the timeline looks like before cosmetic work begins.
Which Treatments Address What
Most smile makeovers combine two or more of these. Here’s what each one is actually solving:
Porcelain veneers fix chips, gaps, discoloration, and uneven shape. Thin porcelain shells are bonded to the front of your teeth, with a smile design, temporaries, and a try-in before anything’s bonded permanently. Best if your front teeth are the main issue and you want a dramatic, lasting change.
Porcelain crowns fix teeth that are cracked, worn, or structurally weak, made and fitted in the practice’s on-site lab. Best if a tooth needs both strength and a natural look restored.
Dental bonding fixes small chips, gaps, or irregularities, with tooth-colored resin shaped directly onto the tooth, often in a single visit. Best if you want a quick, lower-cost fix for a minor imperfection.
Zoom whitening fixes dullness and discoloration in an in-office treatment, often completed in a single appointment. Best if your teeth are healthy and structurally fine, just discolored.
SureSmile Aligners fix misalignment and crowding with clear aligners worn over several months, replaced periodically as your teeth shift. Best if you want straighter teeth without visible braces.
Dental implants fix a missing tooth, root included, through a multi-stage process as the implant integrates with your jawbone. Best if you’re missing one or more teeth entirely, not just damaged ones.
Ready for the Change You Want?
Waiting doesn’t usually make any of this easier. The habits you’ve built to hide a smile you’re unhappy with, and the dental issues behind them rarely improve on their own. The sooner you have an honest conversation about what’s possible, the sooner you stop working around it.
Call at our office in San Antonio and schedule your consultation with Dr. Tostado or Dr. Acuña. Come with your questions, your hesitations, or just a sense of what you’d like to change. You’ll leave with an honest picture of what’s achievable and exactly what it costs, in writing, before anything begins.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a smile makeover take?
It depends entirely on which treatments your plan includes. A makeover built around bonding and whitening can move quickly, while one that includes Invisalign or dental implants takes months, since your teeth or jawbone need time to respond. Dr. Tostado or Dr. Acuña will give you a specific timeline at your consultation, once your plan is set.
Will I know what my new smile looks like before it’s permanent?
Yes. You’ll see a physical wax-up model of the proposed result, then wear provisional temporaries as a trial smile, before any permanent restoration is bonded in place.
Does a smile makeover hurt?
Most of the treatments involved use local anesthesia where needed, and the practice offers weighted blankets, noise-canceling headphones, and sedation options for patients who feel anxious about dental visits.
What if I don’t love the result?
Under the practice’s commitment, nothing gets permanently bonded until you’re happy with how it looks at the try-in stage.
Do you accept dental insurance for a smile makeover?
5 Star Dental Group is a fee-for-service practice, but PPO claims are filed on your behalf, and financing through CareCredit or Cherry, along with an in-house membership plan, are both available.
Can I combine treatments, like veneers and whitening, in one plan?
Yes, that’s the point of a smile makeover. Most plans combine two or more treatments so the color, shape, and fit of every tooth are decided together instead of one at a time.