Dental Clinics Across India Earn Lakhs During Marriage Season As Brides Struggle For The Perfect Smile

Shriya Jain's wedding is just around the corner. Besides shopping for her trousseau and making appointments at the beauty parlour, the Chennai girl is making plans to fix her gummy smile."At my engagement, a photographer asked me to smile a little less as my dark gums show. I don't want to spoil the wedding pictures, so I am going to the dentist for gum contouring," she says.

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Dental clinics across the country are seeing new clients -brides who want to dazzle guests with their pearly whites on their wedding day.

Bridal dentistry procedures range from smile correction, which fixes imperfections such as soiled or misshapen teeth, and embedding Swarovski crystals in teeth to laser removal of enamel and replacement with temporary or permanent veneer or crowns to brighten teeth.

Permanent treatments such as modifying the jawline to enhance smiles are also popular and can cost up to Rs 2 lakh, say dentists. Other treatments include gingivectomy, reducing the gum's length by a couple of millimetres, which costs up to Rs 50,000, and orthodontic smile design, where the entire tooth structure is modified, at times to mimic an actress' smile, which costs up to Rs 1lakh.

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In the last couple of years alone, Sushant Umre, of Delhi's Dental Aesthetics, has seen almost a 50% increase in the number of brides-to-be walking in for smile correction. With Bollywood-style videos and candid pictures shot by professional photographers being the trend, girls want to offer their best smile to the camera," says Umre.

Archana Narayanaswamy, a Chennai-based dentist, said brides approach them about a month before the wedding. "The bridal market is growing at a healthy pace. From last year, we have seen 50% growth," she says. While gum contouring takes few weeks, patients looking to realign teeth approach clinics earlier.

Industry experts, who peg the Indian dentistry market at Rs 7,000 crore, say bridal dentistry accounts for close to 6%. Healthcare startup S10, which connects dentists with patients, has seen a year-on-year growth of 40% in the cosmetic dentistry segment. Many hospitals offer packages, and some clinics offer easy payment options.

Tooth jewellery , according to him is another trend that's become very popular, said Umre.