Porcelain Veneers
Porcelain Veneers
July 21, 2008
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As cosmetic dentistry becomes better known, more people have been discovering the many virtues of porcelain veneers. If you have a busy lifestyle that doesnÌt give you big chunks of time to spend in a dental chair, they will have extra appeal. In this one procedure you can correct an array of dental defects:
Ô Discoloration that wonÌt brighten up with a tooth whitening procedure
Ô Small gaps between teeth
Ô Slightly mis-matched tooth sizes
Ô Small chips and shallow cracks in the enamel
Ô Slight crookedness or misalignment
How is This All Done in One Procedure?
A veneer is a thin cover for a toothÌs front surface. It can be shaped slightly differently than the tooth it covers, and this could match a toothÌs size or shape more closely to its neighbors. To fill a small gap, two veneers can be made slightly extended on the gap side, so as to cover it. When minor chips and cracks are not a threat to the toothÌs strength and donÌt need to be corrected, a veneer can cover them.
If a front tooth is a little crooked, a veneer can be made slightly thicker on the receding side and thinner on the protruding side. That covers the crooked angle and replaces it with a straight new front surface.
The porcelain used will be matched to your natural tooth color. That means that if you would like to whiten your teeth, you should do that first. Then your cosmetic dentist can match the porcelain to the new color, as porcelain does not respond to tooth whitening.
The Veneers Procedure
Once itÌs decided that veneers are the way to go, it is typically done in two dental visits.
In the first visit, the teeth to be veneered are slightly shaped to receive the veneers Ò a very small amount of enamel is removed to make room for them. No anesthetic is needed as this is very shallow work and the toothÌs nerve is below both enamel and dentin layers.
Your cosmetic dentist would then use a digital camera to photograph the teeth and would take impressions of them He would send those to the lab, along with tooth measurements and other data, so that the lab will be able to make your veneers exactly to specifications.
You would not need to have any temporary veneers in the two or three weeks it might take the lab to make your permanent ones. But if you wanted to, you could have your dentist use some dental bonding to give a thin temporary cover for those teeth.
In the second visit, the veneers will be temporarily fitted and your cosmetic dentist will test your bite to make sure the veneers will not interfere with it. When both you and your dentist are satisfied with the fit, comfort, and appearance, they will be permanently bonded to the teeth.
They are now part of those teeth and will last you a very long time if you care for them. Veneers do not need special care other than not trying to open beer bottles with them. Give them the same daily care you give your natural teeth. Porcelain will never decay, but the back and side surfaces of the veneered teeth are not covered. So brush at least once a day, floss every day, and go for regular dental check-ups.
Your porcelain veneers will then last as long as your teeth do, giving you a pleasing, even, and healthy-looking smile.
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