Smile Design Studio

Dr. Valdez completed her dental degree at the University of the Philippines before winning a merit scholarship to NYU College of Dentistry, where she completed a two-year prosthodontics fellowship under one of the leading veneer specialists in the United States. She returned to Manila in 2018 with a portfolio of case studies, a ceramist contact in Milan, and a vision for a dental studio that operated with the aesthetic philosophy of a fine art atelier rather than a medical clinic.

The Smile Design Studio in BGC was designed by the same team responsible for Chi Spa's interiors — a collaboration that produced a space deliberately stripped of the anxiety-inducing elements of traditional dentistry. No fluorescent overhead lighting. No stainless steel on display. Instead, warm linen walls, a carefully curated sound environment, and treatment chairs oriented toward a single window overlooking BGC's green corridor.

The relationship with Milan-based ceramist Lorenzo Ghetti — now in its eighth year — is central to the studio's identity. Ghetti produces all of Smile Design Studio's porcelain veneers by hand, using a shade-matching process that accounts for each patient's skin undertone, age, and natural tooth structure. The consistency of shade, translucency, and texture that this relationship produces has made the studio the referral destination of choice for Manila's most image-conscious clients.