Porcelain veneers have been used for several decades to enhance a dental patient's smile. These thin wafers of color-matched dental porcelain are bonded to the visible surface of teeth to mask chips, disfigurements, discoloring or slight misalignments and gaps. Thanks to the artistry of dentists and dental lab technicians, the average observer often can't distinguish a veneered tooth from a natural one.

Veneers are great—but they're even more life-like and versatile thanks to recent technological advances. Here are a few of these high tech means that can help make your veneers as attractive as possible.

Digital photography. There's a lot that goes into making sure an individual's veneers seamlessly blend in with other teeth. Photographs in digital form that can be transferred electronically to dental labs are invaluable, especially for accurate color matching. A high resolution photograph can also relay an enormous amount of information about a patient's existing teeth including shape, size, length and position.

Computer imaging. We want you to be satisfied with your final veneer appearance. The best way to ensure that—and to relax any jitters you may have over the process—is to enable you to “see” your new smile before your veneers are even made. We can do that with computer imaging software that modifies a current photo of your smile to look as it will be with veneers. It's also a great tool for making changes to the veneer plan based on what you see in the model.

Tryout veneers. We can even take it a step further, by letting you see how your proposed veneers will look like on your own teeth. We do this by creating provisional veneers made of composite materials that we temporarily bond to your teeth. You can try them out for a while (and get others' impressions) until your permanent veneers are ready. And as with computer imaging, tryout veneers can guide updates to your veneer schematics before they're made.

Using these and other advanced techniques can help fine-tune the design of your new veneers to make sure they're the best they can be. They're great tools in achieving our ultimate goal with your veneers—a beautiful smile that everyone thinks is natural.

If you would like more information on the smile-transforming power of dental veneers, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Porcelain Veneers: Your Smile—Better Than Ever.”

If you have a less than attractive smile due to some moderate imperfections, dental veneers may be the answer. This relatively inexpensive dental restoration may be the key to transforming your smile.

If you're thinking of veneers as a “thin covering,” you're on the right track. Just like construction veneers used to cover wall surfaces, dental veneers are thin wafers of material (usually porcelain) that cover the front of tooth surfaces. Made uniquely for the individual patient, veneers provide a life-like covering that can mask a variety of dental imperfections.

Veneers are mildly invasive, meaning some of the enamel layer of the teeth to which they're bonded will need to be removed. If this alteration occurs, it's permanent, so the teeth will require a veneer or other restoration from then on. It's usually necessary, though, so that the veneer doesn't appear too bulky. Even so, veneers are still less invasive than other restorations.

The list of appearance problems veneers can address is quite varied. One of their more common uses is to correct certain structural flaws in teeth: chips, abnormal tooth shape from wear or teeth that are congenitally smaller than normal.

They're also a remedy for heavy staining. While teeth whitening can temporarily brighten a dull, dingy smile, veneers provide a permanent solution for the problem of staining. They're also a practical option for internal tooth staining, which can't be addressed by either home or professional external teeth whitening procedures.

Finally, veneers may be used to close small gaps and other mild forms of dental misalignment. And although they may not be able to correct larger gaps by themselves, they're sometimes used in conjunction with orthodontic treatment.

Veneers can address many dental flaws, but not all. To see if your dental situation could benefit from a veneer application, you'll need to undergo a complete dental examination. If it seems veneers aren't a good fit for you, your dentist will discuss other types of cosmetic treatments to improve your smile.

If, on the other hand, veneers do appear to be a viable option for you, you're just a few visits away from a completely new look. Veneers can change your smile—and your life!

If you would like more information on porcelain veneers, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Porcelain Veneers: Strength & Beauty as Never Before.”

Dental veneers—thin, life-like layers of porcelain bonded to teeth—can turn a so-so smile into a beautiful one. But most veneers have a distinct drawback: To make them look as natural as possible, the teeth they're bonded with must have some of their surface enamel removed.

Even though they're 1 millimeter or less in thickness, veneers on an unprepared tooth can look bulky. Removing some of the surface enamel remedies this, but doing so permanently alters the tooth. The tooth will need a veneer or some other protective restoration from then on.

Now, though, there's an alternative veneer available for many dental patients. Known as No-Prep or Minimal-Prep, these new veneers are often as thin as a contact lens.

These new types of veneers can often be placed directly on the teeth just above the gum line without any enamel removal and look natural. At the most, the enamel beneath them may need reshaping with an abrasive tool. And, unlike traditional veneers with tooth alteration, these low-prep veneers can often be applied without anesthesia, and in as few as two appointments.

No- or Minimal-Preps are better suited for certain kinds of patients: those with small teeth or teeth that appear small due to larger mouth features; worn teeth from aging or teeth grinding or with small gaps; narrow smiles where the side teeth aren't as visible; and teeth that are slightly misshapen or with minor staining.

On the other hand, patients with oversized teeth or front teeth that jut forward may still encounter problems with an unnatural, bulky appearance even with ultra-thin veneers. The latter situation can often be corrected with orthodontic treatment first to realign the teeth to their proper positions. Once the bite is corrected, no-prep veneers may then become a viable option.

If you'd like to consider these minimal preparation veneers, see your dentist for an examination. The exam results will help determine what type of veneer solution is right for you. And whether you go with traditional or No-Prep veneers, the change in your smile can be amazing.

If you would like more information on porcelain veneers without enamel removal, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “No-Prep Porcelain Veneers.”

Getting a new smile doesn’t have to be an elaborate affair. If your teeth have minor to moderate chips, stains or tooth gaps, dental veneers could be the answer. These thin wafers of dental porcelain mask tooth imperfections and completely change your smile’s dynamic—and without a huge impact to your wallet.

To achieve that effect, though, your personal set of veneers will require the expertise of both your dentist and a dental lab technician to design and create your veneers. And while there are numerous considerations in achieving a truly life-like appearance with veneers, one of the most important is their color.

We always associate the color white with teeth. And while it is the dominant hue, actual tooth color is more complex. An individual tooth is comprised of multiple shades and tints, that range in variation from its biting edge to the gums. Likewise, tooth color in general can differ from person to person.

Your dentist must take these individual color variations into account while designing your new veneers, especially if you’ll be getting them for some but not for all your teeth. In that case, it’s important for the veneer color to blend seamlessly with the color of your natural teeth without veneers.

Your new smile expectations and desires are also important and should be considered when designing veneer coloring. For instance, do you want a more natural look—or would you prefer a smile with more “dazzle”? This could have an impact on color.

Your dentist takes all of this information (including your input) and communicates it clearly to the dental lab technician creating the veneers. That process is a combination of both science and artistry, using a variety of techniques to achieve an accurate, life-like texture and color result. For example, a technician may paint the edges of the veneers with a ceramic paste that when cured produces a life-like translucency.

This meticulous attention to color detail is necessary to create beautiful veneers that look natural. If the color is right, you’re sure to enjoy the change your veneers bring to your smile for many years to come.

If you would like more information on transforming your smile with dental veneers, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Porcelain Veneers: Your Smile—Better Than Ever.”

Porcelain veneers are a great way to enhance an unattractive smile. But are they appropriate for teenagers? The answer usually depends on a patient’s current development stage and the type of veneer used.

Veneers are thin layers of porcelain bonded to the front of teeth. But even though quite thin, they can appear bulky if we don’t first remove some of the tooth’s enamel surface. This is irreversible, so the tooth may require a restoration from then on.

This could be a major issue for teens whose permanent teeth are still developing. During this period the tooth’s central pulp is relatively large and the dentin layer not fully developed. As a result, the pulp’s nerves are often closer to the surface than in an adult tooth. This increases risk of nerve damage during veneer preparation; if nerve damage occurs, the tooth could ultimately require a root canal treatment to save it.

On the other hand, some types of veneers don’t require tooth alteration (or only very little) beforehand. These “no-prep” or “minimal prep” veneers are best for certain situations like abnormally small teeth, so we must first determine if using such a veneer would be appropriate for your teen.

In effect, we’ll need to weigh these and other factors before determining if veneers are a safe choice for your teen. That being the case, it may be more advisable to consider more conservative cosmetic techniques first. For example, if enamel staining is the main issue, you could consider teeth whitening. Although the often amazing results eventually fade, whitening could still buy some time until the teeth have matured to safely apply veneers.

Slight deformities like chipping can often be corrected by bonding tooth-colored composite material to the tooth. In artistic hands it’s even possible to create a full veneer effect with very little if any tooth preparation. How much we can apply, though, depends on tooth size, and it won’t be as durable as a porcelain veneer.

With that said, veneers could be the right solution to enhance your teen’s smile. But, we’ll need to carefully consider their dental situation to ensure their new smile remains a healthy one.

If you would like more information on cosmetic solutions for smile appearance problems, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation.