Back in 2021, Molly-Mae Hague did something almost nobody in the influencer world does. She took her smile makeover off. "Goodbye composite bonds," she posted, "hello natural teethies." Cue half the country squinting at their own bonding in the bathroom mirror and wondering: hang on, can I do that too?
The short answer: it depends entirely on what you've had done. Composite bonding is the most reversible of the big smile treatments, because it's mostly added on top of the tooth, not carved out of it. Veneers are a different story: for most of them, enamel is filed away first, and enamel doesn't grow back. So Molly-Mae could go back to her natural teeth. Plenty of people can't. (For two celebrities who went the other way, see what Maura Higgins had done and what 7 stars have said about their veneers.)
What did Molly-Mae actually have done?
By her own account, she had composite bonding put on two days before she went into the Love Island villa in 2019. Around two years later, as part of what she called her "journey to becoming more natural", alongside dissolving her fillers, she had the bonding removed and shared the results with her followers.
Her biggest worry going in? That the teeth underneath would be "all orange and decayed" after being covered up for so long. They weren't, and she was relieved.
What happened next is the bit that doesn't get talked about enough. A few months later, she admitted she wasn't sure how she felt about her natural smile, said she was smiling less, and described her teeth as "literally as yellow as the sun". Which, if you've ever had a smile makeover and then seen your real teeth again, will sound very familiar.
Why could Molly-Mae remove hers?
Because of how bonding works. Composite bonding is tooth-coloured resin that's built up on the surface of the tooth and shaped by hand. It usually needs little or no drilling of the natural tooth, so when it comes off, most of what was there before is still there.
Think of it like a stick-on nail versus filing your real nail down to a stub. One you can take off. The other, you're living with.
That doesn't make removal a two-minute job. The resin is bonded on properly (the clue's in the name), so taking it off means carefully polishing it away without damaging the enamel underneath. Done well, you're left with your own teeth. Done badly, you're not.
Can you undo veneers?
Mostly, no, and this is where I'll be straight with you.
For most porcelain veneers, a layer of enamel is filed off the front of each tooth first, so the shell sits flush and doesn't look bulky. That enamel is gone for good. You can remove or replace the veneers, but you can't go back to the tooth you had before. Once those teeth have been prepared, they'll need veneers, or something like them, for life.
Stacey Solomon put it perfectly when she wrote about her own veneers: "once you go down that road there is no going back". She's right.
Some thinner veneers need less preparation, and composite veneers (which are basically a bigger version of bonding) often need very little. But "less" isn't "none", and it varies from mouth to mouth.
What about the other smile makeovers?
A quick guide to how reversible each one really is:
- Teeth whitening: fades gradually over time, and doesn't remove any tooth. The most "undoable" of the lot, in the sense that it undoes itself.
- Aligners and braces: the teeth themselves aren't changed, just moved. But stop wearing your retainer and they'll happily wander back. Reversible in a way nobody actually wants.
- Composite bonding: can usually be removed or adjusted, as Molly-Mae showed.
- Veneers: the veneers can come off, but the enamel underneath doesn't come back.
- Crowns (a lot of so-called "Turkey teeth"): a crown covers the whole tooth, so much more of the natural tooth is usually reshaped to fit one. This is the least reversible of all.
So what did Molly-Mae's teeth teach us?
Three things, really.
First, the least invasive option is usually the one to start with, because it keeps your choices open. Molly-Mae changed her mind, and because she'd had bonding, she could.
Second, your natural teeth might not look how you remember. Bonding can hide the colour underneath for years, and teeth naturally darken a little with age. The "yellow as the sun" shock is common, and it's not a sign anything went wrong.
Third, a smile makeover isn't a one-off purchase. Bonding needs polishing and repairing, veneers need replacing, and aligner results need a retainer. Whatever you choose, you're signing up for the upkeep.
The smartest question anyone can ask before a smile makeover isn't "how will it look?" It's "what happens if I change my mind?" Molly-Mae had a good answer. Not everyone does.
For the treatment itself, my composite bonding guide explains suitability, upkeep and the questions to ask before starting.
This article is general information based on what Molly-Mae Hague has shared publicly. Whether a treatment is suitable, or reversible, for any individual can only be decided after an examination in person.
