Sophie Cunningham brought the swagger. Jenni built strength. Dr. B refined the smile.
By the time Sophie stepped in front of the cameras for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, the goal was never to turn her into someone new. It was to make everything already there impossible to miss.
“Sophie’s transformation was one of my favorites,” says Dr. B. “She already had the confidence and personality. I just had to give her the smile to match.”
While Dr. B perfected the details, his wife, Jenni, was preparing the Mercury-turned-Fever superstar physically and mentally for the shoot.
“Sophie is literally every coach’s dream client,” Jenni says. “She’s like: tell me what to do and I’ll do it 100 percent.”
Nutrition was dialed in. Training had purpose. Distractions were pushed aside. In Jenni’s words, there was one goal in mind: “Be kick a** on that cover.”
It is hard to imagine a better illustration of why Dr. B and Jenni have become known as a transformation couple.
At Studio B Smiles, he creates signature smiles. In the gym, she builds strength, stamina and bodies capable of performing under pressure. One works in millimeters. The other works in reps. Both are after the same result: the moment someone begins to carry themselves differently.
“Transformation is rarely just about what people see in the mirror,” Dr. B says. “I can change someone’s smile and she can change someone’s body, but the real transformation happens when that person starts carrying themselves differently.”
They see it in the posture, the pictures, and the willingness to laugh without covering a mouth or enter a room without shrinking. Their clients stand taller, smile more and stop negotiating with the insecurities that once controlled them.
That shift is especially powerful when the client makes a living in the public eye.
As team dentist for the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks, Dr. B cares for athletes whose faces appear on television screens, social media feeds and arena scoreboards. A smile becomes part of an athlete’s identity, but for Dr. B, aesthetics never come before health.
“An athlete can’t be distracted by a dental issue. My job is to make their smile something they never have to think about, unless someone is complimenting it.”
His client list may include professional athletes, celebrities and executives, but inside the treatment room, status quickly loses its power.
“Once someone is in the dental chair, titles disappear. Everyone is human and has insecurities.”
Dr. B’s signature is restraint. He is not interested in creating a row of teeth that looks overly designed or instantly recognizable as dental work. He approaches a smile much like a great stylist approaches a client: preserve the identity, refine the proportions and understand when to stop.
“A beautiful smile shouldn’t be perfect. It should be natural and believable. Teeth need character, proportion and little nuances that make them look like they belong to that person.”
Trends will inevitably change. His philosophy will not.
“Natural beauty doesn’t,” he says. “My goal isn’t to give patients cookie cutter smile designs. It’s to create the patient’s own signature smile.”
Jenni understands the demands of being seen from a different vantage point. Before becoming a performance coach, she experienced that pressure herself as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, Miami Heat Dancer, Phoenix Suns Dancer and member of the Phoenix Mercury Hip Hop Squad.
Her résumé may look glamorous, but she remembers the stress that often existed behind the hair, makeup and uniforms.
“I wish I would have known everything I know now about nutrition and the importance of weight training then. I would have been way less stressed out about my body and meals. Food is fuel.”
Today, as a personal trainer for the Phoenix Suns Dancers and Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders, Jenni is determined to change the way these women view themselves and their training.
“They are professional elite athletes,” she says. “I drive that home with them.”
The work is not about simply looking the part. Jenni teaches them fuel for games, practices and appearances, while her small group sessions come with a straightforward warning: “We lift heavy.”
Team boot camps build endurance for the demands most spectators never fully see. These performers must dance full out for hours, execute demanding choreography and tumbling, navigate hair flips and poms, and deliver every timeout and halftime performance with a bright smile.
“The energy it takes to perform full out for two to three hours straight is crazy,” Jenni says. “Building up to being able to handle that takes more discipline than you’ll ever know.”
The women who earn those coveted positions are selected from hundreds, sometimes thousands, of hopefuls. Talent is only the beginning. They must carry themselves beautifully, communicate intelligently, remain humble and compassionate, and understand that they represent an organization even after leaving the field or court.
Jenni knows something about building a career beyond the role people first associate with you.
Her two cents? “Say yes and figure it out later.”
That same mentality appears in the celebrities, CEOs, Olympians and professional athletes she trains. They are not constantly motivated. They simply refuse to let that become an excuse.
“There’s not one high level athlete, actor, model or performer who feels motivated and excited to train all the time, but they do it anyway.”
Still, the work of Dr. B and Jenni is not reserved for famous faces. Some of Dr. B’s most meaningful transformations happen far from the cameras.
Through his work with Devin Booker and Special Olympics Arizona, Dr. B has provided complimentary dental care to athletes in need. It is a partnership that has brought his entire philosophy back to its most important purpose.
“These athletes don’t come in asking for a Hollywood smile. Many simply want to smile without being self conscious.”
For Dr. B, the opportunity to give someone both oral health and confidence is a powerful reminder that a transformed smile can alter far more than an appearance.
Whether they are preparing Sophie Cunningham for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, helping an athlete perform without distraction or giving someone the confidence to smile fully, neither is interested in creating a different person.
They reveal the strongest, most confident version of the one who was already there.
Because what’s really in style is not the body or the smile. It is the transformation that happens when someone finally stops hiding.
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