You may have heard that veneers–thin slices of tough, biocompatible dental porcelain–are an easy way to upgrade your smile. We all know that others often judge us on our appearance we first meet and a beautiful smile can positively impact both career and personal life. But what do you need to know before your first appointment?
Once you have been examined, our dentist will advise you on your most cost-effective options. You may just want a single tooth covered up because it has a crack, is chipped, or is misshapen or misaligned. Or all the front teeth that show are not your ideal shade of white, either because of old, dark root canals showing through, aging, or they are susceptible to easy staining by foods, beverages, medications, or smoking.
Whatever your need, you choose the shade for the veneer. It could be an exact match to the color of your current neighboring natural teeth or you could opt for a whiter new smile (it’s no secret that celebrities like Tom Cruise and Demi Moore owe their gleaming Hollywood grins to veneers). Often, we will recommend a professional whitening first to be sure the veneers’ translucence, which makes them look like real teeth, doesn’t reveal a dark or yellow color underneath.
Once the preferred shade is reached, we will make an impression of the teeth to be treated and send directions to the artisans at a top dental laboratory to craft your very personalized veneers.
When the veneers arrive back, at a second appointment we will remove a small portion of the enamel on the front of your teeth to rough it up, which improves the bonding with dental cement. This also makes them less bulky, to avoid their sticking out ever so slightly and seeming unnatural.
With proper care, veneers can maintain their color for 10 or more years. In the first weeks, you should avoid foods such as popcorn, hard candy, apples, nuts, or hard biscuits. You should stop biting nails, chewing on pens, or opening bags or pulling on clothing with your teeth. If you grind your teeth at night, ask about having us create a night guard, which is a mouth guard that you wear while you are asleep, which protects your teeth from being worn down.
Although veneers are stain-resistant, you should brush right after drinking coffee, teeth, red wine or other dark beverages or eating highly colored foods, and reduce smoking. Of course, you need to continue to brush for two minutes after breakfast and dinner and floss before you go to bed.
Veneers are the quickest and most cost-effective way to get the benefits of cosmetic dentistry and get back to smiling confidently.