April 30, 2021
Your smile is one of the first features that most people will notice.
What happens if a tooth needs some minor treatment to make your smile shine?
That’s where a dental veneer could help to enhance your smile.
Dental veneers are a good option for addressing a variety of physical and aesthetic problems with your teeth.
What Is a Dental Veneer?
According to the American Dental Association, a veneer is a permanent change used to correct tooth imperfections, such as stained or chipped teeth.
Veneers are thin porcelain or composite resin coverings that are bonded to the front surface of a tooth using dental cement.
Because veneers are permanent, it’s essential to get all the information and weigh the pros and cons before deciding to get them.
In dentistry, a veneer is a layer of material placed over a tooth. Veneers can improve the aesthetics of a smile and protect the tooth’s surface from damage.
There are two main types of material used to fabricate a veneer: composite and dental porcelain.
Benefits of Veneers
1. Whiten & Brighten Your Smile
Years of drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, or eating highly pigmented foods can eventually take their toll on your teeth, turning them an unattractive shade of yellow or brown.
Stained enamel can be bleached at home or by your dentist, but can also become stained again.
If you’re looking for an easier way to whiten your smile for good, dental veneers may be a great fit for you.
Veneers are mostly stain-resistant, so you won’t have to worry about discoloration or needing to have your veneers whitened.
Some of our patients return to us regularly to get their teeth whitened. But other patients opt instead to get veneers.
Unlike natural teeth, veneers resist staining from habits like drinking coffee or smoking cigarettes.
These dental prosthetics are extremely resilient and in comparison with natural teeth, they’re mostly stain-resistant so it won’t be necessary to get them whitened on a regular basis as you would your natural teeth.
As such, they’re a good choice for patients who would prefer to whiten their teeth in a more permanent way as opposed to whitening the teeth once each year.
In certain cases, it may make sense to combine dental veneer placement with tooth whitening or the placement of dental crowns.
2. Fix Minor Cosmetic Problems
Veneers can fix chips, cracks, gaps between teeth, minor misalignment, and/or discoloration — they help correct many cosmetic dental issues!
Veneers are attached to the front surfaces of your teeth — so while they don’t change the position of your teeth, they do camouflage minor orthodontic problems once they’re applied.
Your natural teeth may still be gapped or crooked, but nobody will know aside from you and your dentist.
Veneers can’t always replace orthodontic treatment, and your dentist may refer you to an orthodontist instead of placing veneers.
3. Replace Damaged Enamel
Enamel is strong but not indestructible. Your enamel may still be worn down from overzealous tooth brushing or eaten away by highly acidic foods and drinks.
The stomach acid associated with acid reflux disease can also damage your enamel.
Damaged enamel can become a cause for concern because lost enamel doesn’t grow back. Fortunately, you can replace it.
Veneers are an excellent treatment for teeth with enamel abrasion or enamel erosion — and they look great, too!
4. Uniformity of Color & Appearance Smile Makeover
Veneers are a quick cosmetic fix.
Veneers can be life-changing for people who are unhappy with the appearance of their teeth.
Any of the following cosmetic issues can easily be addressed using porcelain veneers:
- Chipped teeth
- Missing teeth
- Gaps between the teeth
- Misshapen teeth
- Stained or discolored teeth
Braces or other orthodontic treatments are a common way to treat gaps between the teeth, but some people opt to get veneers instead of enduring the pain and inconvenience of braces.
Rather than moving the teeth, veneers merely camouflage the cosmetic issues so that the only people who know about your dental problems are you and your dentist.
At Kirkland Premier Dentistry we can consult with you to determine whether your cosmetic dental problems could be fixed using veneers.
5. Veneers Are Permanent and Durable
Did you know that porcelain veneers are permanent and they actually resist decay and staining better than real teeth?
Because the veneers are non-porous, they resist stains and cavities better than your natural tooth enamel (which is porous).
With proper maintenance, a dental veneer will last between 10 and 15 years.
6. Maintaining Dental Veneers Is Easy
You don’t have to do anything special to care for dental veneers. Maintenance is the same as caring for your normal teeth.
You should brush twice a day and floss at least one time daily.
And schedule regular checkups with us at Kirkland Premier Dentistry to maintain the natural white shine to your teeth.
Also Read: What to do When a Dental Emergency Occurs?
Types of Dental Veneers
Porcelain Veneers
Porcelain is the most esthetic and least harmful material available for dental restorations. It is also the strongest and longest-lasting of all veneer materials.
Porcelain laminate veneers are extremely biocompatible, which means they rarely injure the gum tissues and surrounding soft tissues in the mouth.
These veneers can significantly improve the appearance of your smile because porcelain is very natural-looking.
Porcelain veneers are a permanent solution and require some tooth shaving before placement.
Porcelain veneers are a new, popular option that provides same-day results.
CEREC veneers use high-quality 3D software to design you a new, beautiful smile in minutes.
Composite Veneers
Composite veneers are made of composite resin, which is a mixture of inorganic and organic materials.
The natural materials include the initiator, the resin, and the coupling agent. The primary inorganic material in composite resin is filler.
The bonding material used to make composite resin veneers is the same as tooth-colored dental fillings.
While strong, composite veneers are not as durable as porcelain.
Composite veneers are less expensive than porcelain veneers.
However, they blend in fairly well with your natural tooth color, but are prone to stains over time and do not last as long.
These veneers are a permanent solution and require some tooth shaving before placement.
Lumineers
Lumineers are a brand of veneers. They are made of ultra-thin porcelain laminate material and require minimal preparation before placement.
Unlike porcelain veneers, a less natural tooth structure is removed before placing a luminaire over your tooth enamel.
Lumineers are commonly used to treat discolored and irregularly shaped teeth. They are smooth to the touch, so they also look and feel natural.
For any kind of dental emergency, contact the best dentist in Kirkland for the best treatment.
