WHAT ARE PORCELAIN VENEERS?

Veneers are essentially a thin piece of porcelain that can be bonded to your teeth to change the color, shape and contour of your smile. 

A couple veneers can restore a few broken teeth while a full set can be life changing. 

Now, many of my patients get veneers because they don’t like some aspect of their smile. 

Some people have really dark teeth from intrinsic staining, some have a crooked smile & others have really small teeth that they just want to be larger.  

The veneers procedure has changed a lot since its inception. 

Different materials and different techniques have allowed this procedure to become a bit more predictable in everyday clinical practice. 

But there are some fundamental principles that have remained the same since the beginning 

One of the most important principles is a conservative preparation design which means drilling as little of your tooth as possible . . . 

DENTAL VENEER PREPARATION

Veneers are delicate & incredibly thin. They don’t wrap around the tooth like a crown would and rely almost entirely on bonding to adhere to your teeth so that they’re not popping off. 

Every time a dentist prepares a veneer they have to consider everything that would allow for the strongest bonding between your dental veneer & the tooth.  

One of the largest factors is to limit the tooth preparation to the outermost layer of your tooth called enamel. 

There are plenty of studies that have proven that the bond strength of a veneer to a tooth is highest when its limited to the enamel 

But  one problem we run into is that enamel is thin & is only composed of at most a couple mm of the outermost layer of your tooth.

So If you remove too much of this enamel & expose the second layer of the tooth, then the bond strength can be negatively affected which can result in veneers that keep popping off or don’t really adhere well to the tooth. 

So at this point you might be asking yourself why drill into the tooth at all?

If the bond strength is so important why don’t we leave the tooth as it is and go from there? 

It’s not that simple. The preparation design ultimately depends on the goals and vision of our patients. 

For example, some patients only want to make their teeth larger in which case you don’t have to prepare alot of the tooth at all and you can make a veneer does just that. 

But what about cases teeth are crooked, misaligned or too large. 

In these cases you can’t just add a veneer to the tooth because it would be too bulky. . .

You have to remove some tooth structure in order make a strong set of veneers that has the ability to transform your smile into whatever youre looking to achieve.  

DENTAL VENEER MOCKUP

A mockup gives our patients an idea of what the final product will look like before a drill even touches their teeth. 

A dental laboratory makes these mockups through a model of your teeth & we get this model by taking an impression digitally or manually at your first consultation appointment.

They then use wax to create a smile that is uniform, very pretty & resonates with whatever goals you are trying to accomplish. 

Some patients want square bold teeth that make a statement. Other patients want feminine teeth with rounded edges that look really delicate and pretty.

So this can all be accomplished through communicating what your patients needs are with dental laboratory 

After this smile design is created, dentists are then able to transfer this design to the mouth to see what’s possible. its not going to be perfect and it may be a bit bulky and uncomfortable but it gives you an idea of what is possible.

We give you some time to trial the smile design and get information about whether you like the shape color and contour.

We take really detailed notes and communicate that with the lab.

Eventually we get to the point where we have to prepare the teeth for the veneers & another questions patients ask me how much of the tooth I have to drill to make the porcelain veneers work. 

DENTAL VENEERS TOOTH PREP

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5 REASONS TO CROWN / VENEER YOUR FRONT TOOTH

 - Broken Front Tooth
 - Fillings / Cavities
 - Grinding Teeth
 - Straighten Teeth
 - Whiten Teeth

#1 HOW BAD DID YOU BREAK YOUR FRONT TEETH

If your tooth is only slightly chipped without too many cracks, I would recommend fixing it with a porcelain veneer or composite filling 

Composite bonding is a bit less expensive but can definitely stain over time. 

We can also do a composite veneer but this stains over time and I typically limit that procedure to younger patients.

Now, if you broke your tooth in a big way then I would definitely recommend getting a crown.  Crowns cover the entire tooth and can withstand a lot of wear and tear. 

#2 DO YOU HAVE A VARIETY OF CAVITIES ON YOUR TEETH

In order to have a strong long lasting permanent veneer, dentists need to bond to healthy enamel (the outermost layer of tooth)! THAT IS CRITICAL! 

If you have any previous fillings or decay that negatively affects this enamel, your dentist might want to place a crown on your tooth.

This is because our bond strength is higher on enamel which makes the veneer last longer. 

Other major factors that can negatively affect your enamel include acid reflux, oral habits like sucking on lemons, and even genetics

#3 DO YOU GRIND YOUR TEETH

Veneers are very thin and can break if your banding on them at night.

SO, if you have a lot of broken teeth due to because your grinding them at night then your dentist might recommend a crown over a veneer. 

It’s best to have your dentist analyze your grinding habits (show knuckles grinding) before deciding whether a veneer is the best option . . .  

If you do choose veneers, then I would definitely recommend wearing a night guard to protect them from popping off at night 

#4 DO YOU WANT STRAIGHT TEETH WITHOUT BRACES

Another huge question I get from my patients is whether veneers can straighten their teeth and if they can do do veneers instead of braces.

The short simple answer is yes; but, braces are much less invasive and simply move your teeth into the correct position. 

For the most ideal results, we like to do a combination of both.  We use braces to align the teeth to a more ideal position and then start the veneer process. 

A huge shoutout to my close friend Dr. Greg who talks all about braces in his channel braces explained, a must watch for those that are considering braces

#5 ARE YOU CONSIDERING TEETH WHITENING

I always recommend dental whitening as a first step brighten your smile, but if your teeth are really dark or have a history of tetracycline staining, there is only so much whitening can do.

Veneers can make your teeth whiter but if its too dark then a crown might be needed to mask the dark color. 

CONCLUSION

Now, we still have so much more to talk about in terms of different veneer designs and indications as to why we use certain designs on certain cases. 

Im not sure if this is too technical for the channel or if I should make a detailed video going over the process step by step. 

f you have any questions or video ideas I want you to leave a comment down below! This helps me figure out what people want to learn about on this channel. 

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