What are Veneers?
Veneers are wafer-thin laminates or shells of tooth-coloured material which can be porcelain or composite (white filling material). They are “cemented” to the front surface of teeth to improve their appearance and create a more uniform look.
What are Veneers used for?
There are a wide variety of reasons why people opt for dental veneers:
Staining - Badly stained teeth that cannot be improved by teeth whitening or professional cleaning can be improved with dental veneers, which cover any existing stains on your teeth.
Damaged teeth - Teeth that have become badly worn through excessive grinding or fizzy drinks, as well as those that have been chipped or broken can benefit from veneers.
A single damaged tooth can easily be repaired with a porcelain veneer that has the same characteristics and colour as your natural teeth.
Gaps -Spaces between your teeth can easily be closed using dental veneers, giving you a more uniformlooking smile.
Crooked teeth - Veneers are not the ideal treatment for crooked teeth as we would rather preserve your natural teeth structure; orthodontics or Invisalign braces (see relevant section) are likely to be a better solution.
However, these treatments can take up to a year. For teeth that are not severely crooked, veneers can be placed over their front surface to instantly give a straight and perfectly aligned-looking smile.
How are Veneers fitted?
1. The first part of any dental procedure is the initial consultation and examination, so that our dentist can get a feel for what you want and understand your needs and concerns. Our dentists will explain the treatment procedure to help give you an accurate guide to the likely costs of your treatment.
2. Before your veneers are designed, your dentist will need to reshape and prepare the front surfaces of your teeth so that they can accommodate the veneers.
3. A mould (copy) of your teeth is taken and sent to our dental laboratory. They will then use this as a guide to help them make your new veneer. This can usually take them around two weeks.
4. While we wait for your veneers to be made, we will fit you with some temporary veneers to protect your teeth.
5. On your next appointment, we will fit your new veneers to your teeth.
How will I know what I will look like afterwards?
You are involved throughout the whole process and there are several steps along the way when you are shown the proposed smile and invited to give feedback.
We design your smile with computer imaging and we will help you choose your ideal smile and show you how it would look using the latest computer technology. This is done at your first appointment, the cosmetic consultation. The next step is to transform the imaging picture into a 3d model. This is done not just on a computer but on a model that you can pick up and examine. You can check the aesthetics from every angle and we can check the function. All this is done before we even touch a tooth.
The next stage is very clever, when you are ready to proceed, the teeth and sculpted and temporaries are placed that replica the 3dmodel exactly. You can trial the proposed smile design in your mouth before anything is set in stone. The temporaries can be fine-tuned to your precise requirements and any changes can be duplicated in the finished restorations.
Our master ceramist duplicates the smile design in the final restorations and adds the fine colour, surface anatomy and texture to bring your new smile to life. These miniature works of art look beautiful even close.
How long do Veneers last?
