A hair stylist, Kristin Henkes has spent most of her career making women look beautiful, but it wasn’t until she won a smile makeover from three Issaquah dentists that she could feel the same.

“Cosmetic dentistry was a fantasy,” she said.

Henkes has always had good dental hygiene, but she was cursed with bad genes.

When he father was in his 30s, he had all his teeth pulled and began using dentures. With a mouth full of metal fillings, she was destined for a similar fate.

One of her front row teeth never grew in, another was too small.

Then bad turned to bleak for the 37-year-old, when her front teeth began to shift across her gums toward the hole.

The dentists used braces to move them back, and filled in the gap with an implant. Veneers helped resize her teeth as well as give them a new look.

Today, when she catches a glimpse of herself in the hair salon mirror, she’s still surprised to see all the teeth.

While the change is a confidence booster, she no longer covers her face when she smiles, it’s not everything, she said.

Often customers complain about how bad their roots look, she said. “I tell people no one notices your roots, because their too concerned with their own.”

She appreciated that while her teeth were beautified, they weren’t perfect corn rows. There was an art to keeping them look real, she said.

It’s been two years since Henkes was selected from among about 40 applications for the prize.

Troy Schmedding’s office came up with the idea, and invited nearby dentists Christian Manley and Sasidhar Narra, both from the 710 Juniper building, to make a complete team.

A patient of Schmedding, who was also a client of Henkes’, recommended she apply.

The dentists liked that she had good dental hygiene and that she was working towards a nursing degree at the University of Washington.

“We liked her story,” Schmedding said. “Becoming a nurse, a smile is important.”

The total cost of the work came to about $15,000 to $20,000, all at the doctors’ expense.

Giving back is an obligation, Schmedding said. “We have good careers, good lives.”

Altruism isn’t uncommon for Issaquah doctors, and Schmedding also recently finished helping a domestic violence victim reclaim her smile.

The goal of the Henkes project was also to show what could be done for people.

“You don’t have to saw off all your teeth off,” she said.

Many people don’t know much about dentistry, and about half of people who have dental insurance don’t use it, Schmedding said.

There are many alternatives to having teeth pulled and replaced with dentures. “There are good things being done in dentistry.”

Before and after shots of Kristin Henkes’ teeth.

Contributed