Hands that launched a thousand smiles

CHENNAI: Jyothika’s smile spells magic and Trisha’s is dazzling. In less controversial times, Khushboo’s smile made her fans build a temple for her. Hema Malini still has her pearly smile intact.

Behind the smiles of dozens of film stars are the hands of a dentist family. Meet Dr G Janakiraman and sons Dr J Ganapathy and Dr J Hariharan and daughter-in-law Dr Rekha Hariharan, the smile engineers with whom Kollywood has entrusted its dental formula.

While Dr Janakiraman (66) deals with gums and younger son Dr Hariharan in oral pathology, elder son Dr Ganapathy does what he calls “interior decoration.” Says Dr Ganapathy, who specialises in dental cosmetology: “A small correction of a tooth or a little lip adaptation can hike the smile quotient. Several actors have found their screen presence enhanced after such treatment.”

Their JGHR Dental Clinic in T Nagar, Chennai, has a patient-list that includes yesteryear stars like Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan and KR Vijaya, today’s stars Vijaykanth, Prasanth, Jyothika, Trisha, Meena (Tamil), Dilip, Jayaram and Samyuktha Varma (Malayalam). Dream girl of yore Hema Malini gets her routine check-up here, while Shilpa Shetty has sought an appointment.

“I hate going to hospitals, but this family of doctors is so friendly that you feel at home,” says Trisha, adding: “I go there for just dental cleaning. Not only that have they got the best imported equipment, the ambience makes every client feel special. Oral hygiene is important to everyone and as an actor,  I take extra care to prevent dental problems.”

It all started in 1968, when legendary Tamil actor Shivaji Ganesan walked into Janakiraman’s little clinic in T Nagar. “He was shooting for a film when he experienced an unbearable toothache. I was elated to see the greatest star of the times coming to consult me, though I had only six years of practice then,” reminisces Janakiraman. The dentist secretly preserved the thespian’s tooth that he extracted, but lost it last year when the clinic was renovated.

The dentists don’t reveal which star had what treatment, but say that a large number of requests come for gum-cutting.
“Some stars don’t like a gummy smile. By a simple technique, we expose more teeth than gums,” says Janakiraman. One of the stars had her frenum (the string that connects the upper lip with the gum) cut to make the gum hold her teeth perfectly.

It is not always beautification. Janakiraman had designed villain actor MN Nambiar’s elongated ugly canines in the movie ‘Ulagam Suttrum Vaaliban’, which brought him accolades from the movie’s hero MGR.

“Stars are very particular about oral hygiene and aesthetics,” says Dr Hariharan. “When they come to us, it is an endorsement of the good work we do.