It’s hard to maintain a perfect smile. Teeth can get chipped, or stained, or grow apart, and the measures you have to take to fix them can not only be a lot of work but cost a lot of money to keep it up. Veneers are an effective and nonintrusive way to save your smile without having to go back and repair every few years.
What are Veneers?
Veneers are thin shells that can be made of either a ceramic material, like porcelain, or a composite resin material. These shells are bonded to the front of your teeth and are used to mask not only stains or discoloration in the teeth or fillings, but also chipped, worn down, or misaligned teeth. The procedure does not intrude on or affect your teeth and requires little or no anesthesia.
The Procedure
For the diagnosis, treatment, and planning and preparation for bonding, it should take up to three appointments for the entire procedure to be completed. In order to get the smile that you want, it is important that you play an active role in planning your smile so that you get it exactly the way you want and are comfortable with your dentist.
To begin, the teeth are buffed by about half a millimeter to allow for some added thickness of the veneers. If you are getting veneers made of ceramic materials, your dentist will take a mold of your teeth that will be sent to a laboratory for the creation of the veneers. They will then be placed on your teeth to ensure that the fit, shape, and color are correct. At this stage, it is important to speak up if the coloring of the veneers is right because, at this stage, it can still be corrected.
The teeth will then be cleansed with chemicals to create the bond, and a special cement will be applied between the tooth and the veneer. A light beam is used to harden the cement and the veneer to the tooth.
If you are getting your veneers done with a composite resin, the procedure can generally be done in one appointment. The dentist will bond and sculpt the composite material to each of your teeth.
Your new teeth may feel foreign, to begin with, so it can take a few weeks to get used to their new shape and size. It is important to keep up with good brushing and flossing, especially during the first week, and your dentist will likely schedule a follow-up visit for about a week after.
The Benefits
Veneers are less intrusive than braces or crowns and can allow you to mask discoloration, injured and chipped teeth, or even gaps in your teeth, without having to worry about your teeth changing. Veneers last on average between 10 and 15 years, but if well done, they can last for up to 20 years. While you should not go in expecting perfection, because slight color adjustments occur in natural teeth as well, veneers can still be incredibly successful in improving your smile.
Call Us!
If you want to know more about veneers, you can reach our Friendly Dental of Worcester office at (508) 340-4611, our Unique Dental of Worcester office at (508) 556-6241, our Taunton Dental Center office at (508) 822-1281, and our Uxbridge Family Dental office at (508) 714-7046.
