Dr. Anna Berik knows how to transform a smile. Her patients arrive at Newton Dental Associates, where she’s the owner, looking for straighter, whiter teeth, and that’s what they get—along with boosted confidence and a whole host of medical, cosmetic, and even emotional health benefits they never imagined. And the best part: They get it fast.
That’s thanks to The Berik Acceleration Method (BAM), which gives her patients the smile they want in an average of just three months. With today’s non-accelerated Invisalign cases taking an average of 12 to 15 months, and bracket-and-wire cases taking 18 to 24 months, Berik’s three-month process has completely changed the orthodontics game for patients across world—especially in our own backyard.
We sat down with Dr. Berik to learn about how BAM works and the ways it’s transformed not only her patients’ teeth, but also their lives.
How Dr. Berik’s Method Works
When Dr. Berik sees a patient for the first time, she always explains how BAM works. Often, she says, when people hear about the three-month timeline, they have questions—what’s the catch?
“They assume it’s less treatment,” she says, “and they assume if you’re going to move faster, that you’re going to push or pull harder, that there’s more discomfort involved.” She assures her patients that this is not the case. “They’re looking for some consequence, because it’s so much better than what they’ve heard,” she says.
Dr. Berik has developed a way to move her patients’ teeth faster that doesn’t involve increased pushing or pulling. Instead, she gives her patients a mouthpiece equipped with a laser light device that stimulates bone cell reactivation. With the inclusion of that device, Dr. Berik can predict and control the movement of the teeth more efficiently. It makes the most challenging part of orthodontics—moving roots through bone—much easier. “Because we activate the bone, it’s easier to move, and it moves faster,” she says.
One of Dr. Berik’s patients, Jackie Levine, Vice President of Central Square Florist, was refreshed by the accelerated process after a history of negative dental experiences. “The whole process was super, super easy and very quick,” she says. “Dr. Berik completely changed my opinion of dental work in general.”
Plus, after years of experiencing insecurity, Levine, 30, finished her simple three-month treatment with a completely new smile.
The Benefits of Transformation
Dr. Berik’s patients benefit not only from the instant gratification of the three-month treatment, which Berik says helps people stick to the process, but they also enjoy other benefits of having a perfect smile. First and foremost, Dr. Berik says, they gain confidence. Because, after all: “Your smile is a power suit for your face,” she says.
Levine says she was ready for that confidence boost. “I was always feeling a little uncomfortable with my teeth and my smile,” she says. “I’m in the public eye a lot—I’m also a very talkative smiley person—so my mouth is very important to me.”
When her accelerated Invisalign treatment was complete, her confidence was already blossoming. “Something that I used to not love doing was like take a selfie,” she says. “But now, I love doing that, and I have no reservations about any kind of photography of me …It was really the best thing I did for myself to get in touch with Newton Dental.”
Besides the confidence boost, aligning the teeth can also be helpful for warding off signs of wear in the teeth down the line. “Teeth are a system,” says Dr. Berik. “And when they’re in the wrong position, they wear oddly—misalignment causes odd wear in teeth.”
Dr. Berik says that patients who undergo BAM often also notice that the shape of their lips is more flattering, and even the shape of their face in general. “People underestimate the power of a straight smile,” she says. “Your teeth support your lips and your face.”
When a patient’s teeth are straightened, then, it corrects the appearance of crowding and gapping, but it also supports the facial structure they need for the look they want. “So when you get the teeth in the right position, the soft tissue lays better—your lips lay better, your cheeks look better, it gives a better proportion to the face in subtle ways,” Dr. Berik explains.
This facial rejuvenation was also something Levine experienced, especially because of her newfound comfortability smiling. “You’re going to smile differently because you’re going to want to smile bigger, and your face is going to look different, too,” she says.
After Dr. Berik’s work, Levine made a live appearance on NBC 10 Hub Today and agreed to have her face on the cover of the Boston Herald. “I just wouldn’t have agreed to any of those things [before] because of just the confidence that I didn’t have,” she says.
Levine shares that she’s now looking forward to taking close-ups at her wedding, which is taking place later this year. She’s referred several of her own family members to Dr. Berik for accelerated Invisalign, in hopes they can see—and feel—the transformation that she did. She adds, “I’m eternally grateful for what [Newton Dental Associates] did for me.”
To learn more about The Berik Accelerated Invisalign Method and embark on your journey to the perfect smile, visit newtondentalassociates.com.