Veneers for Teeth … What are Dental Veneers?
Dental veneers (aka veneers for teeth) (sometimes called porcelain veneers) are wafer-thin, custom-made shells of tooth-coloured materials designed to cover the front surface of teeth to improve your appearance.
These shells are bonded to the front of the teeth changing their shape, size or length.
Types of Dental Veneers
Veneers for teeth can be made from porcelain or from resin composite materials. Milled Zirconia, Laser Synthered Resins, are all manufactured in a dental laboratory and thus will require two separate appointments, while the composite resin veneers are done in one stage directly in your mouth. Porcelain veneers resist stains better than resin veneers. But modern composites that are well placed and polished do not stain very easily and if they do a quick polish will restore its lustre and original colour.
What types of problems do Dental Veneers fix?
Veneers for teeth are routinely used to fix:
• Teeth that are discoloured due to root canal treatments, stains from Tetracycline or other drugs, excessive fluoride and large old and leaking resin fillings, demineralisation of the enamel, as well as the effect of aging.
• Teeth that are worn down
• Teeth that are chipped or broken
• Teeth that are misaligned, uneven or irregularly shaped
• Teeth with gaps between them. Veneers can be used to close the space between these teeth.
How long do veneers for teeth last? … Are veneers permanent?
Are Veneers covered by medical aid?
Are Tooth Veneers A Good Idea?
BENEFITS OF DENTAL VENEERS.
Veneers are minimally invasive, sometimes even totally non-invasive. This means that no or very little natural tooth structure is removed prior to the placement of a veneer or in the case of a composite veneer 90% of the time no natural tooth structure is “sacrificed” for the placement of the veneer. This of course then also means that very seldom is any local anesthetic ( ie NO INJECTIONS)
The comparison between the different types of veneers is that all those that involve the dental laboratory require 2 appointments and are generally 4-5 times the cost of the directly placed composite veneers. The advantage of a lab-created veneer is that they do have a longer life expectancy and with a good technician and clinician working together, superior aesthetics can be achieved.
To do good direct composite veneers you need a skilled and experienced clinician using high-quality dental composites as there are many cheap inferior composites in the market competing for market share but they don’t maintain their shine and bond and then over time they discolour or debond. Having said that, a composite veneer can theoretically be redone up to 4 or 5 times before the cost reaches that of a lab-manufactured veneer. If a composite veneer chips, both the direct and indirect type, they can be very easily and aesthetically repaired while the Ceramic or Zirconia veneers can not be repaired very effectively and therefore in the unfortunate event of one breaking it has to be replaced all together.
If you have front teeth that are bothering you, why don’t you book an appointment with your dentist and ask him or her to do an assessment and inform you of the best practice for your specific situation.
- Veneers for teeth are not a solution for failing teeth, you should discuss alternative options for this. (eg Crowns)
- Veneers are permanent.
- Veneers may increase tooth sensitivity to temperature changes.
- Staining – Porcelain veneers are less likely to stain while composite veneers are more susceptible to staining.
Are Veneers for teeth Painful to Get?
No! In most cases, patients do not experience any pain or discomfort during treatment. Due to its minimally invasive nature, this procedure is suitable for most patients. Veneers require only a thin layer of enamel to be removed from your teeth.
Teeth with veneers – do I still need to brush them?
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