Why we photograph every smile the same way (and never retouch)

Before-and-after photography is cosmetic dentistry’s currency, and it is astonishingly easy to counterfeit. Warm the lighting, brighten the exposure, let the after-photo smile a little wider — no dishonest pixel edited, and yet the comparison lies.

Our protocol

Every Auvera case is photographed with the same camera, the same lens, the same two lighting setups (calibrated daylight and cross-polarised flash), at the same distances, against the same neutral grey. The after photo is taken at the review appointment — not the euphoric fit appointment — so you see the result living in a real mouth, settled gums and all. Nothing is retouched. Not skin, not teeth, not colour.

The law happens to agree

AHPRA’s advertising guidelines require before-and-after images to be genuine, consistent in the ways that matter — lighting, angle, framing — and not edited in ways that could mislead. The same National Law restricts patient testimonials in health advertising, which is why you will not find a review wall on this website. We think the constraint is a gift: it forces the evidence to be visual, standardised and checkable.

How to read anyone's gallery

Compare lip position — a bigger smile in the after photo flatters the dentist, not the dentistry. Check the lighting temperature matches. Look for the gum line: healthy, settled tissue takes weeks, so a same-day after photo tells you the clinic was in a hurry. And ask how many cases the gallery skipped: ours publishes the $895 whitening case beside the $18,000 porcelain one, because honesty is a portfolio choice.

Dr Theo Marchetti is a registered specialist prosthodontist and co-founder of Auvera.