How Do Dental Veneers Work?

Dental veneers are customized to match the color and general shape of your existing teeth. As such, they look just like new and improved versions of your own teeth. If you have noticeably chipped, broken, or worn teeth or stains on your teeth that can’t be corrected by bleaching or whitening treatments, then veneers might be a good choice for you.

Veneers can also hide the grayness or other discolorations caused by root canals and drug treatments like tetracycline or excessive fluoride. They can even cover over an old tooth filling that has discolored or is more apparent than you’d like. If you are considering veneers for your dental issues, it’s important to learn how they work.

WHAT ARE DENTAL VENEERS?

Dental veneers are thin, tooth-colored coverings or shells crafted from porcelain or various types of composite materials. After your dentist customizes them, they place them over the visible parts of your teeth. These overlays cover the front of each tooth, look just like natural teeth and are meant to improve the overall look of your smile.

When crafted, customized, and applied correctly, dental veneers look just like better or improved versions of your own natural teeth. They can also help improve the look and shape of your smile by changing the appearance and the positioning of the teeth. For example, by causing smaller teeth to appear bigger, closing in any gaps, fixing any unusually pointy teeth, and making your whole smile more even.

Dental veneers can also help smooth over teeth that have bulges, craters, or uneven surfaces or edges.

Veneers are an excellent option for people who don’t have extensive damage to their teeth but want to perfect their natural smile in a relatively non-invasive way.

HOW DO VENEERS WORK?

Teeth veneers work by completely covering your natural teeth with a wafer-thin layer of porcelain or similar composite material or resin. To apply veneers, your dentist will remove about 0.3 – 0.5 millimeters off the surface of the tooth’s enamel to preserve the nerve of the tooth and keep it at maximum strength. This helps ensure that your veneers last as long as possible and that there will be little to no issues replacing them if necessary in years to come.

One of the many benefits of veneers is that you don’t have to cover every tooth with a veneer, only the ones that are a problem and maybe the neighboring teeth. Your dentist will recommend how many individual veneers you need. They will then match the veneer’s shape and color to the natural teeth the veneers are surrounded by.

You can get full veneers that completely cover the tooth or partial veneers that only cover damaged or discolored areas, depending on the issues that you want to address and the current state of your mouth.

Many dental patients decide only to veneer their front teeth (top or bottom or both) since those are the most visible.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT DENTAL VENEERS

ARE VENEERS SAFE?

Yes, veneers are safe. They are a non-invasive cosmetic procedure done in a dental office. In fact, veneers have successfully improved the smiles of millions of individuals.

WILL PORCELAIN VENEERS STAIN?

No, porcelain veneers won’t stain. Once your porcelain veneers are in place. You can look forward to years of gorgeous, white teeth without worrying about staining from food or drink.

DENTAL VENEERS AT APEX DENTISTRY

At Apex Dentistry, it’s our goal to give you the beautiful, healthy smile you want. For some patients, this involves dental veneers. Our dental providers are skilled professionals who can reliably place your veneers to give you the best smile possible.