“She taught me a totally different dentistry — very conservative.”
“It was amazing — she’s an extremely patient person. Any question, she didn’t hesitate to speak up and help. It’s inexplicable, the help and the support she gave in these two days of the course. Yeah — it added a lot to my career. She taught me a totally different dentistry, very conservative.”
Merino Composite Academy
A differentdentistry.Deliberately conservative.
Dr. Jaqueline Amadeu Merino opens the direct composite method she has refined in her own clinic — the discipline, the sequence and the judgement behind restorations that read as enamel, not as dentistry.
- Dr. Jaqueline Amadeu Merino
- CRO-15487 · CRO-4233
- @jaqueline_merino
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The premise
Most smiles are not lost in the mouth.They are lost at the handpiece.
There is a version of aesthetic dentistry that solves every problem by removing it. Reduce the tooth. Cover the evidence. Hand the patient a result that photographs beautifully — and belongs to a laboratory for the rest of their life.
Direct composite refuses that trade. Nothing irreversible. No healthy structure spent for convenience. Which is precisely why it is the most demanding discipline you can practise with your own hands, and the least forgiving of an unrefined technique.
Direct composite, finished and polished — from Dr. Merino’s own clinical documentation.
The authority
Dr. Jaqueline Amadeu Merino
Cosmetic and restorative dentist · Direct and indirect veneers · 24 years in clinical practice
I have spent twenty-four years doing one thing: giving people back a smile that still looks like theirs. Direct composite, porcelain veneers, facial harmonisation — the material changes with the case, but the standard does not. If a patient has to explain that the work is dental work, it was not good enough.
That standard is what pushed me toward the most conservative option available in every case. Enamel does not grow back, and a tooth reduced today belongs to a laboratory for the rest of that patient's life. Direct composite lets me refuse that trade — which is exactly why it is the most demanding discipline I practise, and the one I spent the longest refining. I teach because the technique took me years to arrange into something repeatable, and there is no reason another dentist should have to find that order alone.
Training & credentials
Twenty-four years of it. What follows is the part that bears directly on this course — the training in adhesive dentistry, aesthetics and composite that the method was assembled from.
New York University
College of Dentistry
Advanced Aesthetic Dentistry — Theoretical and Practical Immersion
New York City · 2017
Prof. Dr. Ronaldo Hirata
Research collaboration
Clinical research in direct composite, alongside Prof. Dr. Ronaldo Hirata
Anterior and posterior stratification · ongoing
UNICAMP · Piracicaba
Prof. Dr. Marcelo Giannini
Dental materials research in composite resin
Piracicaba Dental School · ongoing
And the rest of the road
Universidade Paranaense
University lecturer and clinical placement supervisor
UNIPAR · faculty since 2003
Universidade Estadual de Maringá
Postgraduate — Adhesive Aesthetic Dentistry
112 h · 2010
ILAPEO
Advanced Aesthetics — extension programme
153 h · 2012
Instituto Kina · Sidney Kina
Oral Rehabilitation in the Adhesive Era
With distinction · 2018
IPO Palmieri
Occlusal Plastics — theory, laboratory and clinical
100 h · 3 modules · 2019
IPO Palmieri
Semi-Adjustable Articulator Workshop
24 h · 2019
Prof. Cláudio Pinho
Composite Resins: The Pursuit of Excellence — hands-on
6th CIOOP · 2009
ABO — Brazilian Dental Association
Dental Photography
2017
Associação Maringaense de Odontologia
Specialisation — Paediatric Dentistry
2003–2005
Universidade Paranaense
Specialisation — Higher Education Teaching
2006
Universidade Paranaense
DDS — Doctor of Dental Surgery
1998–2002
SBOE
18th International Congress of Aesthetic Dentistry
São Paulo · 2012
CRO-PR
Technical Director — Urban House clinic
Since 2018
Every entry above is documented and can be evidenced. Certificates are held on file and the academic record is public on the Lattes platform.
24
Years in clinical practice
1000+
Dentists trained in person
1500+
Documented clinical cases
100+
Courses & congresses attended
Every figure above is stated because it can be evidenced. Where a number could not be verified, the line was left out rather than estimated.
The journey
The rooms that built the method.
Expertise is not downloaded. It accumulates — one course, one congress, one difficult case and one mentor at a time. This is a fraction of the road behind the Academy.
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Experience → method
Everything she learned the slow way,arranged so you do not have to.
A course is only worth what stands behind it. What stands behind this one is a sequence that was not designed in a studio — it was worn into shape, case after case, until it became repeatable.
- 01
Study
Courses, congresses, mentors, literature. Years of deliberately collecting other people’s answers before trusting her own.
- 02
Practice
The unglamorous part. Stratification repeated until the hand stops negotiating with the eye and simply obeys it.
- 03
Refinement
Cutting the protocol down. Removing every step that did not change the outcome, and defending every step that did.
- 04
Clinical application
Real mouths, real constraints, real patients who will live with the result for decades — the only environment where a technique is genuinely tested.
- 05
Documentation
Photographing and reviewing her own work at a magnification that flatters nothing. What cannot be examined cannot be improved.
- 06
Teaching
Only once the sequence survived all of the above did it become something she was willing to hand to another dentist.
The evidence
Her work, at the magnification she works at.
Drag each case. No retouching, no staged lighting, no favourable angle — these are the clinical photographs as they were taken.
BeforeAfterDrag
Anterior restoration in direct composite
Direct composite, layered against a silicone guide — palatal shell, dentine body, optical effects and enamel.
BeforeAfterDrag
Reshaping and proportion, minimally invasive
Contour and proportion rebuilt in direct composite without reducing sound tooth structure.
BeforeAfterDrag
Anterior composite, natural characterisation
Restoration finished with internal characterisation — halo, incisal translucency and surface texture.
BeforeAfterDrag
Direct composite, full anterior sequence
The complete layering sequence taught in the Academy, applied to a single case.
Individual clinical cases performed by Dr. Jaqueline Amadeu Merino, published with each patient’s written authorisation. Results vary between patients and are not a guarantee of outcome.
Finishing & polish
The part nobody photographs.
Anatomy, texture, translucency, line angles, the way light leaves the surface. At this magnification a composite either behaves like enamel or it does not — and there is nowhere to hide.
In the chair
Thirty-eight seconds of the actual work.
Isolation, stratification, contouring, polishing, documentation. Filmed in her own clinic.
The proof
Dentists who have already learned from her.
Recorded by professionals who attended Dr. Merino’s in-person course. Unscripted, in their own words, subtitled in English.
“I came to the course precisely to improve the techniques I was already doing.”
“I came to the course precisely to improve the techniques I was already doing. For sure, Doctor Jaqueline’s technique will add — it already has, because we saw our own progress during the course. It has already added, and it will add a lot for us to be able to develop this in the office, in our daily lives.”
“The technique she shared with us was amazing. I’m speechless about this course.”
“I’ve always admired her work — she’s an amazing professional. So when she mentioned this course: my god, I have to do it, I have to be in the first class. It was such a wonderful course. The technique she shared with us was amazing. I’m speechless about this course.”
“I would definitely recommend this course. It’s totally worth it.”
“I got a lot out of the course — it was an excellent course. I’m at the start of my career and I’m going to start applying this information now. I would definitely recommend this course to anyone who has doubts: you can do it, because it’s totally worth it.”
“It’s excellent work, and it’s an example to follow.”
“I’ve always admired her work. It’s excellent work and it’s an example to follow — to learn from her, for everything.”
Testimonials describe each professional’s individual experience of Dr. Merino’s teaching. They are not a promise of any specific result.
The real test
A restoration is not judged on the day it is placed.
It is judged months later — in daylight, at an angle nobody chose, in a photograph the patient did not pose for. These are the conditions the work has to survive.
Look at
The incisal third. Under diffuse daylight a restoration that borrowed its brightness from the operating lamp goes flat, and the edge is where it shows first.
01 / 06
“I chose this treatment because I know it is conservative. I know it will not wear away any of my tooth — it will be natural.”
“Eu escolhi esse tratamento porque sei que ele é conservador, eu sei que ele não vai desgastar nada do meu dente, vai ser natural.”
What they say afterwards
Public comments on Dr. Merino’s posts, and messages sent to her privately. Translated from Portuguese; handles and dates are unedited, so any of it can be checked.
In public
I'm 50 years old and I've been to a lot of professionals — I've never been to one like you. Honest, sincere, enormous care for her patients. I see her treat everyone the same: you can arrive on foot or in this year's car.
1
It is an immense joy to have you, Aunt Jaque, looking after my smile. I know how much care, affection and love you put into every patient. You don't only transform smiles — you touch souls.
3
I love your work and the impeccable result you gave me. As well as being an incredible professional, she is a wonderful person.
1
How beautiful. Perfect work — it refined and heightened her beauty even further. Congratulations to this incredible professional.
1
Beautiful result — it kept the naturalness and the originality of the smile.
1
I am loving my new smile! Thank you for the care and for making this possible for me.
1
A wonderful professional. A unique human being — we love you.
1
A competent professional! I trust her with my eyes closed! Wonderful in everything!
In private
- I was going to send you exactly this photo!
- Thank you so much.
- I loved my face — and the teeth made such a difference.
- I'm so happy. Thank you for trusting me — you were already beautiful, we only refined a few details.
Direct message · after her wedding
- Oh my God — the beginning of the video… not even we had realised how much he needed this treatment.
- It felt strange seeing the 'before'. It's another life now.
- He loved the way you cared for him — he felt looked after. And the result: we love it, and so does everyone else.
Direct message · from the patient's family
Reproduced from public Instagram comments and direct messages, published with the writers’ permission. Translated from Portuguese; nothing has been reworded.
From colleagues and professionals
Testimonials from colleagues will be published here as they are collected, with each professional's name, credential and permission. Nothing is shown in this section until it can be attributed to a real, identifiable professional.
Inside the Academy
What you actually get.
Six modules that follow a single anterior restoration from first principles to final polish — the same layer-by-layer sequence Dr. Merino uses in her own clinic, filmed at the magnification she works at.
Each module follows one clinical stage from start to finish. Around 8 hours of study in total, across the lessons, the chairside guides and the self-assessment rubric.
01
Foundations: anterior composite & the materials that decide the result
What separates a restoration that reads as enamel from one that reads as dentistry — before a single instrument is picked up. Optical behaviour of the natural tooth, the logic of working in layers, and an honest walk through the materials: which composites do what, why a resin is chosen for a given layer, and where most anterior cases are lost before they begin.
02
Digital planning & the silicone guide
Planning the case before touching the tooth. Digital design of the intended outcome, and step by step how the silicone matrix is built from it — the guide that governs contour, length and thickness, and gives you the exact reference to build the palatal shell against.
03
The palatal shell: the foundation of the restoration
Building the palatal shell against the silicone guide using effect and translucent resins. This is the layer that sets the thickness of everything that follows and starts the reproduction of how light travels through natural enamel — get it wrong and no amount of finishing will rescue the case.
04
Dentine layer and optical effects: chroma, mamelons, halo and translucency
The body of the tooth, and the details the eye reads as “real” without knowing why. Applying chromatic resin to establish saturation, then sculpting the lobes and mamelons with an opaque body resin — the internal anatomy that controls how light is scattered and returned. On top of it, the characterisation: incisal halo, incisal translucency and the opalescent behaviour of that region, created with tints and brushes to reproduce the individual optical signature of the natural tooth.
05
Enamel layer: the surface that returns the light
The final layer, built with achromatic enamel resin to reproduce the outermost surface of the tooth and the way it reflects light — applied so that everything constructed underneath stays visible instead of being buried.
06
Finishing, polishing & surface texture
The stage that decides whether the work survives contact with daylight. Finishing and polishing the restoration and characterising the enamel surface — which burs and which polishing rubbers, in which grit sequence, to reproduce natural texture and the gloss that makes the restoration disappear.
Included with enrolment
- Video lessonsSix modules in the Academy, seven with Premium, filmed at clinical magnification.
- Study timeAround 8 hours, across the lessons, guides, materials list and rubric — at your own pace, re-watched as often as you like.
- LanguageLessons are taught in Portuguese with English subtitles. All written material is in English.
- Chairside guidesOne printable page per module — the sequence, thicknesses and curing times, made to sit next to the chair.
- Materials & instruments listWhat is used at each layer, and what to look for if your brand differs.
- FormatFully online, on demand. Nothing is live, so no session is ever missed.
- CertificateIssued by Merino Composite Academy and signed by Dr. Merino, once every lesson has been watched.
- Access periodTwelve months from the date of purchase.
- GuaranteeSeven days, full refund, no questions asked.
Fit
Who this is for — and who it is not for.
Built for
- Dentists in clinical practice who already restore anterior teeth and want the result to stop looking restored.
- Clinicians who default to indirect work because composite has never quite behaved for them.
- Recent graduates who would rather build on a conservative foundation than unlearn an invasive one later.
- Practitioners who want a protocol they can repeat on a Tuesday afternoon, not a technique that only works in a lecture.
Not built for
- Anyone who is not a dentist or a dental student. This is clinical training, not general-interest content.
- Anyone looking for a shortcut. This is a hands-and-hours discipline, and the Academy will not pretend otherwise.
- Anyone who wants a course that never asks them to change how they already work.
The Academy is built for dentists who already work with composite. Read the two lists honestly — this is a technique course, and it assumes ground that is already covered.
The arithmetic
The question is not what it costs.It is what it is worth in your chair.
You already know how to price your own work. So do the maths yourself — move the slider to your usual fee for a single anterior composite restoration.
This is arithmetic, not a projection. It makes no promise about your practice, your fees or your results — it simply puts a one-off investment next to work you are already doing.
$450per case
$80$2,500
At that fee, each option is covered by
The Academy$597
2cases
The Academy · Premium$947
3cases
Six-Month MentorshipBy application
—
Mentorship is priced by application, so it is not expressed in cases — it is a six-month programme, not a single purchase.
A course is spent once.
You pay for the Academy a single time. Everything you take from it, you keep — and use on every case for the rest of your career.
A technique compounds.
The difference between a restoration a patient tolerates and one they photograph is not material cost. It is judgement, and judgement raises the ceiling on everything you charge for.
Conservative work earns trust.
Patients who understand that nothing healthy was removed tend to come back, and tend to send other people. That is the part no fee schedule captures.
Enrolment
Two ways to learn the method.
The same complete method in both. The difference is whether Dr. Merino looks at your work.
The Academy
The complete method, at your own pace.
$597
USD · one-time payment
- All six modules, from materials to final polish
- A one-page chairside guide for every module — printable, made to sit next to the chair
- Materials & instruments list
- 12 months of access
- Certificate of Completion, signed by Dr. Merino and issued once every lesson has been watched
Enrol — $597
Secure checkout · Immediate access
Six-Month Mentorship
By applicationFor the dentist building a practice around this standard — not just learning the technique.
6 months · limited to 8 dentists per intake
Apply for the mentorship
Application, then a conversation with Dr. Merino before either side commits
Everything in Premium, plus:
- Direct mentorship with Dr. Merino over six months — group sessions every fortnight, plus individual sessions for what is specific to your own practice
- Your cases reviewed throughout, not three times — the full arc of a case, from planning to the photograph of the finished work
- Beyond technique: how to price work of this standard, attract the patient who wants it, and position yourself on naturalness rather than on price — built from how Dr. Merino runs her own practice
- Documentation and portfolio: how to photograph, record and present your own work so it does the selling for you
- Available in Portuguese or English
How to apply
The button above opens an email that is already written. If you prefer to write it yourself, send it to merinocompositeacademy@gmail.com
Email subject
Application — Six-Month Mentorship
What to include
- 1.Full name, city and country
- 2.Your dental licence or registration number
- 3.Years in practice, and where you work (own practice, clinic, partnership)
- 4.Roughly how many anterior composite restorations you place per month
- 5.What you want to change in your work or your practice over the next six months
- 6.Preferred language for the mentorship: English or Portuguese
- 7.Optional: 2 or 3 photos of your own cases, or your professional Instagram
- 8.Your WhatsApp number, with country code, for the conversation with Dr. Merino
Every application is read personally. If it is a fit, we reply within 5 working days to arrange a conversation with Dr. Merino — that is where fees and dates are set out, with no commitment on either side.
Questions before applying? Message us on WhatsApp +55 44 99991-0598
How the mentorship is guaranteed
The mentorship carries a completion guarantee rather than a promise of return. Attend the sessions, submit the cases and apply what is taught — and if, at the end of the six months, the work has not changed, the investment is returned. No one can honestly promise you what your practice will earn: that depends on your market, your hands and your decisions. What can be promised is that the standard of your work will be held to account for six months, by someone who has done it for twenty-four years.
The guarantee applies to a participant who attends the scheduled sessions and submits their cases within the six months. It is a commitment to the work being done, not to a financial outcome.
Payment
Checkout by Gumroad, merchant of record. Cards and PayPal accepted, charged in USD. Access released immediately.
Seven-day guarantee
Seven days, full refund, no questions asked. If the Academy is not what you expected, write to support@merinocompositeacademy.com within seven days of purchase and the payment is returned in full — you do not have to justify the decision.
Before you decide
The questions that actually matter.
How the follow-up works
Stated plainly, because a mentorship that promises unlimited access to one clinician is a promise that cannot be kept. These limits are what make the ones above real.
- Case reviews
- 3 cases
- Sent by you on video, answered by Dr. Merino on video.
- Email questions
- 10 questions
- For short, specific queries. Answered within 3 working days.
- Window
- 3 months
- From enrolment. Both allowances run over this period.
- Places
- 30 dentists
- Per intake — the ceiling that keeps the review time real.
About the certificate
The Certificate of Completion is issued by Merino Composite Academy and signed by Dr. Merino, with its own certificate number. It is released at the end of the course and generated as a PDF with your name. Premium adds Dr. Merino's written assessment of the three cases you submitted.
It is a certificate of continuing education. It carries no CE credits, and confers no specialisation, licence or right to practise.
Qualified dentists and dental students. The Academy assumes you already restore teeth and understand adhesive protocols — it teaches a technique, not the basics of dentistry. It is sold worldwide, with no country restriction.
Yes — some. This is not an introduction to adhesive dentistry. It assumes you already place composite restorations and want the result to stop looking restored. If you have never worked with composite, you will be able to follow the reasoning, but the hand skill it builds on will not be there yet.
The lessons are taught in Portuguese with English subtitles throughout. Every written material — chairside guides, materials list, photographic protocol — is in English.
Twelve months from the date of purchase. That is long enough to work through the course more than once and to return to a module the night before a case — which is how it is meant to be used.
Yes. Both levels include the Merino Composite Academy Certificate of Completion, signed by Dr. Merino and released once every lesson has been watched — there is no exam. You generate it yourself as a PDF, with your name, from the last lesson. Premium also includes Dr. Merino's written assessment of your three cases. It is continuing education: it carries no CE credits and confers no specialisation or licence.
A materials and instruments list is included, covering what is used at each layer. The protocol is not tied to a single manufacturer — the list explains what each resin needs to do, so you can identify the equivalent in the system you already own.
No. The Academy is fully online and on demand — there is nothing live, so no session can be missed. Premium adds individual case review with Dr. Merino, but it is asynchronous: you send the case on video, she answers on video.
Access and technical support is by email at support@merinocompositeacademy.com, answered on business days. Clinical questions answered personally by Dr. Merino are part of Premium: ten questions by email over three months, answered within three working days, alongside three of your own cases reviewed on video.
Seven days, full refund, no questions asked. If the Academy is not what you expected, write to support@merinocompositeacademy.com within seven days of purchase and the payment is returned in full. You do not have to justify the decision.
Checkout is handled by Gumroad, which acts as merchant of record — it issues the receipt and handles any sales tax, VAT or GST due in your country. Major credit and debit cards and PayPal are accepted, and you are charged in US dollars. Access is released immediately after payment.
The decision
You can keep removing tooth structure.Or you can learn to leave it there.
Every restoration you place is permanent in one direction only. Enamel does not grow back, and the decision to remove it is made in seconds — usually because no one ever showed you the alternative properly.
Merino Composite Academy is that alternative, taught by the dentist whose own patients choose it by name.
Join the Academy
One payment · From $597 · Seven-day full refund, no questions asked