Veneers

Change Your Look with Dental Veneers

If your teeth are badly stained, oddly shaped or crooked we can help improve your looks by placing a veneer on the tooth's surface. Veneers are thin pieces of porcelain cemented over the front of the tooth to change it's color or shape. Veneers are a good appearance enhancement option if your teeth have uneven surfaces or are chipped, discolored, stained by tetracycline, misshapen due to injury or a root-canal procedure, oddly shaped, unevenly spaced or crooked.

Dental Veneers May Be Right For You

You may be a good candidate for veneering if you have any of the following issues:

• Pitted or grooved tooth enamel
• Chipped or fractured teeth
• Overlapping or crowded teeth
• Teeth of uneven lengths or sizes
• Crooked teeth that turn in or out
• Discolored teeth

The process begins with a consultation visit. During your first visit you will learn about the procedure and the materials used and discuss any concerns you might have. Typically, veneers require a series of appointments:

The second visit usually lasts an hour or two, during which the teeth are lightly buffed to accommodate the small added thickness of the veneer. Usually about a half a millimeter of the tooth is removed and may require a local anesthetic. For some patients no preparation of the teeth is necessary. A mold of the teeth is also taken to create the veneers in our dental laboratory.

The final visit also lasts an hour or two. The veneers are placed on the tooth surface with water or glycerin to check for fit and color. Finally we clean the tooth, place a special cement between the veneer and the tooth and apply a laser to harden the cement.

Follow up: It is recommended to schedule a follow up visit two weeks after the Bonding procedure to check the bite, verify flossing and photograph your new smile!

Porcelain Laminate Veneers – Glamorous or Natural, You Decide!

Many celebrities in Hollywood have veneers, it is true, but not all of us want teeth to look perfectly white and straight.

During our consultation, Dr. Smith will spend a lot of time discussing what you want in your new smile, choosing the perfect characteristics and color. Our goal is that no matter how white we choose to make your teeth, they look as life like as possible, mimicking nature but perfecting it. There are many tricks to making veneers look like enamel. Blending colors, adding translucency and shaping are all very important. It is not uncommon to see slight variations in the color of porcelain veneers upon close inspection, as this occurs even in natural teeth. We can even match your existing teeth exactly, as you will see in our Real Stories section under Single Veneers.

Veneers have a longer life expectancy and color stability than bonding and are highly resistant to permanent staining from coffee, tea or even smoking. Veneers are usually irreversible because it is necessary to remove a small amount of enamel from your teeth to accommodate the shell. The best advantage to veneers is that they are conservative of tooth structure when compared to crowns, keeping your teeth healthier over your lifetime.

Meet Some of Dr. Smith's Patients
Read more about veneers on Dr. Jill Smith's Beauty Blog