When Jon Marashi was a dental student at New York University, he discovered he had a certain artistic talent for sculpting teeth out of dental clay.

Now, he’s using that talent to help patients at his Brentwood office see what their smiles will look like with veneers.

With a “trial smile” procedure, temporary clay veneers are placed on patients’ teeth to show what they’ll look like after the dental work. The most common practice, Marashi said, is hiring a lab to make a wax model of the teeth or preparing a digital rendering of the new smile. But those techniques don’t let patients see the teeth in their mouths.

So why don’t more dentists craft clay veneers? It’s not because the process is expensive – Marashi, at least, offers it free with a consultation.

He believes most dentists don’t have the artistic ability.

Marashi acknowledged he doesn’t have artistic talents beyond tooth sculpting. “I can’t draw a stick figure to save my life.”