A Guide to Dental Veneers and How We Use Them

Dental veneers are one of the most versatile tools a dentist has to help repair and rejuvenate your smile. Consisting of porcelain, dental veneers correct a large number of challenges with teeth. These challenges including minor chips, cracks, and breaks. Essentially veneers are paper-thin pieces of porcelain that mimic tooth enamel almost perfectly.

We place the veneers over the teeth, providing structural support and giving patients the ability to smile with confidence. Since they can closely match the shade of your enamel, veneers are virtually indistinguishable once we place them. Thus, your teeth will look great without anyone knowing that you have dental veneers.

How are dental veneers placed?

Placing the dental veneers actually beings with an initial consultation visit to Kevin J Daily DDS, during which time we can determine if the patient is a good candidate for dental veneers. During this stage of the process, we will evaluate the teeth, discuss the types and scope of the veneers, and conduct a smile analysis to determine what kind of smile the patient is looking for. Following that process, we can complete cosmetic imaging to show the patient what the smile could look like.

Once we decide that dental veneers are a good option, we will schedule an appointment. During this appointment, we will shave away a small portion of the enamel, typically no more than a few millimeters. Shaving off a bit of the tooth allows the porcelain veneer to fit snugly to the tooth and makes sure that there is a smooth contour to give the veneer a natural appearance.

We will also make an impression of the teeth so that a dental lab can customize the veneer. Next, we will place a temporary veneer on the teeth until the lab finishes the permanent veneer. Once ready, we will check the shade, shape, and size of the veneer, tweaking it until it looks perfectly natural in the patient's mouth. When the patient is happy with how it looks, we will use dental cement to adhere the veneer in the mouth to provide stability.

What are dental veneers used for?

Dental veneers are some of the most versatile tools that we have in our toolbox. With a porcelain veneer, we can easily fix a number of problems. As mentioned earlier, veneers are used extensively to repair teeth that have been cracked, chipped, or broken. This is often a preferable solution to dental crowns, which required a greater amount of shaving and removal of the natural enamel.

Porcelain veneers can also help to whiten teeth that stubbornly refuse to become whiter with traditional whitening methods. Hollywood has made the idea of perfect white teeth, often using veneers, popular in the mainstream. When teeth refuse to respond to the peroxide-based whitening formulas, it is easier and more effective to remove a tiny portion of the enamel, replacing it with a dental veneer for beautiful white teeth. Other things that porcelain veneers can fix include minor issues with the bite, adjustment to the size and shape of the teeth, and fixing of minor gaps that occur and make the teeth seem unsightly.