Celebrity Dentist Michael Apa Launches Glam Toothcare Line
Dr. Michael Apa isn’t a normal dentist. (Photo: Michael Apa)
Glamour and dentistry aren’t two words you would usually put together. In most cases, if you’ve seen one dentist’s office you’ve seen them all. The experience is simply a practical one. That is until you’ve entered the world of A-list dentist Dr. Michael Apa of the Rosenthal Apa Group. Step into his Upper East Side office and you’ll notice eye-catching contemporary art, blingy chandeliers, and dance music blasting throughout. A Miss Brazil hopeful is in one treatment room, while an Emmy-winning actress is in another. Then there is Dr. Apa, the fast-talking sharply-dressed pied-piper of a new era of dentistry who sports a lab bomber jacket, rather than a lab coat while taking care of fawning patients. This isn’t your average visit to the dentist.
If you want to get with the Dr. Apa program you need to first throw out the term ‘cosmetic dentistry.’ “Everybody says cosmetic dentistry, it makes me feel like it’s cheapened. Aesthetic dentistry is looking at the patient, figuring out what’s been going on over time and trying to give them the best possible smile in one shot,” he explains. Starting at $3500 a tooth for porcelain veneers, factoring in multiple teeth (sometimes 10, 20, or the whole mouth), it’s a massive investment. But it is fast, Apa can redo mouth in one day. Plus, he does all the regular dentistry things like fillings and cleaning. “We will fill in a cavity at the same time as we’re fixing teeth. So it’s about giving an aesthetic result and a health result at the same time,” says Apa. “You’re getting a reset button hit on your teeth.”
Apa wearing his lab bomber jacket. Photo: Instagram
While Apa won’t reveal the name of his celebrity clients, his Instagram features him with an incredibly wide range of bold-faced names, from Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen to Lee Radziwill. 75% of Dr. Apa’s clients are international, and he spends two weeks a month at his office in Dubai. He was invited to practice there at the request of the royal family of Abu Dhabi. While it can take up to a week to redo teeth in his New York office, in Dubai they have an in-house ceramicist who can makeover a smile in as little as a day.
Dr. Apa’s Abu Dhabi office. (Photo: Dr. Apa)
Apa was introduced to this approach by his partner Larry Rosenthal. “He started practicing this way probably in the late 80s, early 90s, and it was very new. It took a little while getting used to. One of the first times the press really wrote about it, it was a cover story in Vogue in ’99,” explains Apa. “He actually taught a lot in that era and there are a lot of these types of practices throughout the world, really from his teaching. Dentists from all over the world really bought into this philosophy, went home, and really changed their practice into this type of practice.”
Apa beauty. Photo: Instagram
In keeping with his glam take on toothcare, Apa has just launched a new line of products sold online at Apa Beauty and at the John Barrett Salon at Bergdorf Goodman. There is a luxe five day, tooth whitening kit, the Apa White Duo that comes in white and gold packaging that is so posh you could consider giving it as a gift. Even the instruction manual is in glossy gold. Standout products include a lip gloss/scrub to soften lips, and a Tooth Gloss which brightens teeth, fights bad breath, and nourishes teeth and gums with green tea, safflower seed and peppermint oil. For Apa, the products and his practice all come down to his patients: “Every time I touch someone’s teeth and they leave happy, I’m happy.”
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