DJ, health-and-wellness entrepreneur and new mom Hannah Bronfman is on a mission to share a new passion: promoting oral health. Since a bike accident impacted her teeth in 2015, Bronfman has been on an “intense and emotional smile makeover” journey—and her latest stop involves being a spokesperson for Pronamel and the launch of its enamel-replenishing Mineral Boost. “We already go to great lengths to future-proof our skin, our hair our eyes,” the 33-year-old says. “Why not our teeth?”
I’m sure you’re asked to back products all the time. Why this one?
I’m a big advocate for all things self-care, but we’ve really left oral health out of the conversation when it comes to our overall wellness. I have a very personal story with my own oral health; I got into an accident a couple of years ago and had to revamp this whole mouth of mine. It was a really intense process and that’s when I realized how much oral health is at the forefront of our overall health. Your mouth is the gateway to your entire body. That’s why I was really excited about this new product from Pronamel. As a new mom and someone who’s got a pretty hectic lifestyle, this is not a new thing I need to do in my routine—rather, I’m swapping this product in place of my conventional toothpaste, and I know it’s doing the most to help replenish those nutrients and really be a part of that preventative action. It gives me peace of mind.
Was there anything surprising you found out about oral health, in general, while working with the brand?
We’re constantly eating acidic foods and drinks—and I think most of us don’t realize how much that takes a toll on the health of our teeth. Our teeth are living organisms: they are alive in our mouths, and they are just like other limbs that we have. I think we forget that. I know firsthand—especially after I got into this accident five, going on six, years ago—that your smile is very much at the core of your self-confidence. When I have a fresh mouth, I feel confident to take on the day. Obviously, wearing a mask is not amazing for our smiles right now, but one day, they will be gone, hopefully, and we’ll be looking at everyone’s pearly whites again.
Can you share more about your smile reconstruction journey?
Yes, it was a lot. I got into a bike accident and I broke my four front teeth. Immediately afterwards, I had my teeth filled with random “stuff” because they were really traumatized—and you don’t want to do work on teeth that are traumatized. A couple of months after that, I had my teeth bonded, and then a couple of months after that, one of my front teeth started to go dark. I was just about to get married, and all of a sudden, I had to get veneers…it was a whole thing. [Nunnally, Freeman and Owens did my tooth extractions and New York cosmetic dentist Sivan Finkel, DMD redid/finished my teeth.]
After I got the veneers, a couple of years after that, I started feeling really worn down. I had a lot of fatigue, a lot of weight gain and my skin was not its best. I work in wellness, so I had all the things that I know that I can do for myself to combat some of those feelings, but everything I was doing wasn’t working. I thought to myself, “I think something bigger is happening here.” I had a blood test and I sent it to a doctor. He said, “This is so interesting, I’ve seen a case like yours before. Can I ask you, have you had any trauma to your mouth?”
Of course, I told him, “Wow, I actually have, but it was four years ago,” and he told me that he had a case similar to this—a case where a cheerleader had gotten into an accident doing one of her jumps and had gotten her front tooth knocked out. Basically, it turned out that I had three massively infected teeth that were all asymptomatic. I had no pain in my mouth or anything like that, but I had this large situation going. I actually had three of my teeth extracted because it was clear to me that that was the solution, as opposed to getting root canal after root canal.
After that, I reconstructed my smile on the top; my teeth on the bottom are all my teeth. It’s funny, because now I’m constantly worried about my teeth on the bottom looking and feeling as good as the ones on the top! That’s when I really realized that something that was coming from my mouth was affecting my energy, was affecting my nutrition, was affecting, I think, my ability with getting pregnant, which I struggled with, and is something I was very open about. It’s pretty obvious that your oral health is really, really quite intrinsic with your overall systems.
Thank you for sharing that. That’s a lot, but your smile is beautiful.
Thank you. It was a lot, it was really emotional. I think people forget how emotional teeth can be. When you think about how much you don’t like to go to the dentist, you’re like, “Oh yes, it is emotional!”
You’re a new mom. How has your beauty routine changed with having a baby?
Every single day I look forward to my nighttime routine once the baby’s down and I can have a couple of minutes to focus on myself! I am doing my 12-step skin-care routine, and I’m giving myself that facial massage, because that’s really my time that day to have my moment.
