Why oral care is the new frontier in anti-ageing

Still of model showing her teeth — Originally featured in the June 2021 issue of Wallpaper*

(Image credit: Photography by Umit Savaci, fashion by Jason Hughes)

For all the billions of words, products and pounds the beauty industry has spent in the pursuit of helping people look younger, the basic tenets for success are relatively simple: maintain good skincare, eat healthily, exercise, maybe dye your hair, and try to keep your stress levels at least slightly low. But what if there was one tactic the industry had overlooked for decades? One secret key that could transform your appearance quickly and effectively?

According to our 2026 beauty trend report, this is, in fact, the case. As Nick Axelrod-Welk, beauty expert and co-founder of Into The Gloss, told us: ‘a trend I see coming is Invisalign as an aesthetic, anti-ageing treatment rather than just an orthodontic one. Even if you had braces as a kid, your teeth can still move and become crowded in your thirties and forties. This can affect the quality of your breathing as well as your face shape. Improving your smile – straightening teeth, expanding palate, increasing spacing – can easily shave a few years off of your appearance.’

Why oral care is the new frontier in anti-ageing

S/S 2024 Menswear Trend Colour Shape — Originally featured in the March 2024 issue of Wallpaper*

But it’s not just Axelrod-Welk who is picking up on the trend of orthodontics as anti-ageing. London’s Nejati Clinic is at the forefront of the trend, offering a menu of treatments that use dental realignment and the resulting facial recomposition to turn back the clock for their clients. The clinic also offers innovative teeth reconstruction procedures, saliva-based longevity diagnostics, regenerative oral tissue procedures to improve the appearance of your teeth, and also, more interestingly, to improve whole-body health.

‘Our philosophy has always been that true anti-ageing dentistry must protect and regenerate biological tissues, not simply change how teeth look,’ says founder Dr. Brandon Nejati. ‘The oral cavity contains highly vascularised tissues and a complex microbiome that constantly communicates with the immune and inflammatory systems. When that balance is disrupted, it can contribute to chronic inflammation and accelerated ageing elsewhere in the body.’

Nejati Clinic office London — London's Nejati Clinic, which is offering pioneering treatments in dental care in spa-like surroundings

Saliva testing is an essential component of the Nejati method, allowing the clinic to assess a patient’s unique levels of inflammation, oxidative stress, microbial balance and early tissue breakdown so that they can personalise treatments and intervene before visible ageing or disease occurs. Once assessed, the treatments begin, including a Microbiome Rebalancing, which instead of indiscriminately eliminating bacteria aims to restore balance, like a probiotic, to improve overall health. There is also the clinic’s signature Biological Smile Rejuvenation procedure, which uses a Micro-Layering™ technique to rebuild teeth with ultra-thin, biologically respectful layers that replicate the natural stratification and light behaviour of enamel to create a natural-looking alternative to the distractingly fake-looking teeth of so many celebrities and high-end dental clinic clients today. Regenerative LED therapy can also be applied to the oral tissues, supporting cellular regeneration and collagen production like a polynucleotide facial for the face.

Nejati Clinic is just one of a growing number of clinics catering to clients' interest in applying the principles of longevity culture to every aspect of their lives, and applying anti-ageing advancements to every part of their bodies.

Model leaning towards camera with pearl earrings — Originally featured in the March 2022 issue of Wallpaper*

Dr Joyce Kahng, the dentist and owner of Orange County’s Orange and Magnolia Dental Studio, offers a ‘VeneerLift’ procedure, which she describes as a ‘lower-third lift’ with all of the benefits and none of the drawbacks of invasive surgery. Using a signature method, Kahng opens the bite for patients with worn teeth and lengthens the front teeth to restore the balance between the lower and bottom parts of the mouth and, consequently, restore balance to the face as a whole. While in New York City, Les Belles Dentistry uses Bio Bonding, a technique designed to enhance the appearance and symmetry of teeth, offering more support to the upper lip and reversing one of the biggest telltale signs of an ageing face – the revealing of lower teeth due to sagging lip and facial muscles.

At the moment, such treatments are mainly limited to large cities and luxury clinics, but, like most beauty trends that start as such, it seems likely that the next few years will see a flourishing of this trend in new locations and at new price points. ‘Dentistry has not fundamentally changed in over fifty years, largely focused on treating disease once it appears,’ says Nejati. ‘At the moment, high-level biological and therapeutic dentistry is considered ultra-luxury and is available to only a few patients globally. That is why we see patients travelling to us from North America, the Middle East, continental Europe, Central Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Over time, however, we believe these methods will become more widely adopted and eventually mainstream.’

Mary Cleary is a writer based in London and New York. Previously beauty & grooming editor at Wallpaper*, she is now a contributing editor, alongside writing for various publications on all aspects of culture.