Have you been dreaming about a bright, healthy, evenly aligned smile? Are you fed up with discoloured or chipped, or misshapen teeth? Porcelain veneers in Newcastle might be an excellent way for you to achieve your aims. However, it’s important to understand how veneers work and what’s involved with treatment before going further.
What Are Veneers?
Veneers are made from a thin shell of porcelain to cover a tooth’s front surface, the biting edge, and the sides. The ceramic material is durable and stain-resistant, and once veneers are bonded onto your teeth, they should last for years with the proper care.
To fabricate the veneers, our dentist in Clarington will need to reshape your teeth, removing some of your tooth enamel on the front, biting edge and sides to create enough room for the new veneer. The amount of tooth structure removed is minimal as a veneer is typically 0.5 mm in thickness, but it does mean treatment is irreversible. Veneers can last ten years or more before they need replacing.
When to Use Veneers?
Porcelain veneers can be very useful to achieve a whiter, brighter smile. Although teeth whitening in Courtice is very effective, it cannot always brighten a tooth, especially if it is internally stained. This could be the case if you have an older root canal or if your teeth were exposed to tetracycline. Veneers are ideal if you have teeth that are slightly chipped or cracked but which don’t have enough damage to require a dental crown. They can also be used to close or minimize a gap between teeth. Often, people have a gap between the upper front teeth called a diastema.
Treatment is very versatile as you don’t need to cover all your teeth with veneers. Instead, you could opt for veneering teeth that will not respond to an ordinary teeth whitening treatment or which aren’t quite an ideal shape or size. It can be a good solution that is more conservative as we will only need to reshape those teeth requiring veneers.
When Not to Use Veneers?
Veneers aren’t always the best choice of treatment. For example, if you clench and grind your teeth, an issue called bruxism, you will most likely damage your veneers very quickly. In this case, you will need treatment for bruxism before you can have veneers. Bruxism often occurs during sleep, so you may be unaware you have this problem, but it is something we can diagnose during your regular checkups.
Veneers are less suitable for teeth that may be heavily decayed or chipped, and if this is the case, we may suggest covering these teeth with dental crowns. A dental crown provides excellent protection for a tooth that is more severely damaged, protecting and covering it right down to the gumline. We can fabricate beautiful all-ceramic crowns that look and feel very natural.
Generally, you need healthy and strong teeth for veneer treatment to be successful. If you have signs of advanced gum disease, we will first want to treat this condition. Veneers may be less suitable for people with severely misaligned teeth. Although they can be used to bring teeth that are only slightly out of line back into alignment, we would need to significantly reshape your teeth to correct more severe problems with your bite. If this is the case, we may suggest you consider adult orthodontics. Invisalign can be extremely successful in discreetly repositioning teeth, bringing them back into line and creating a healthier, more attractive and fully functional smile.