A Dentist’s Guide On How Porcelain Veneers Work

Porcelain veneers are an extremely popular treatment for people wanting to improve their smile. They help by improving the appearance of a person’s teeth, smile and facial profile. They give an incredible amount of control to both the cosmetic dentist and the patient in how they would like their smile to look. The smile can then be fully customised and designed to how the patient wants.

Porcelain veneers can give an incredible dramatic change or a very subtle improvement depending on what sort of results are desired. To achieve this, there’s lots of different configurations of veneers, different types of veneers, and many different adjunctive treatments that can be done to help enhance the effects of veneers. This includes teeth whitening, realigning the teeth first, or gum lifts. If you’re unsure, your cosmetic dentist will be able to help guide you through. With the techniques used at Iconic Dentistry, we are able to simulate what the end result looks like before you commit to any treatment. That way you will know for sure that it is the result you’ve imagined.

Who is suitable for porcelain veneers

Porcelain veneers are generally suitable for anyone looking to improve their smile or the appearance of their teeth. This includes anyone wanting to improve the shape of their teeth, the length of their teeth, the colour, or texture of their teeth. Often patients who receive veneers may have teeth that are worn down, have uneven shape, have uneven colours, or lack balance and harmony in their smile.

Some people may have their teeth damaged through teeth grinding, general wear and tear, acid erosion, accidents and trauma, or through decay. Often in these cases porcelain veneers can help to improve the structure of the teeth by giving addition rigidity and strength. In many cases the bite and functionality of teeth can be improved through veneers as well. Your dentists at Iconic Dentistry are highly trained in aesthetics, meaning that we inherently look at improving your function whenever we improve your smile.

3 Truths and Myths about Veneers

1. 1. “Teeth need to be shaved down to stumps”. This is definitely not the case with porcelain veneers from Iconic Dentistry. Our dentists go to great lengths to preserve as much tooth biology as possible because we know that this improves strength and enhances the look of your veneers. Most of our veneers are made with absolute precision, right in our clinic in South Perth. They can be as thin as 0.3mm. This means we don’t need to shave the teeth down to stumps to create room for the veneers. In certain cases, veneers can even be “prepless” – meaning no drilling involved (this is very dependent on each individual tooth)

 

1. 1. “If I get prepless veneers, I can get them taken off if I change my mind”. Unfortunately this is not the case. Even if the tooth is completely untouched, once a veneer is glued onto the tooth it is irreversible. Porcelain veneers cannot be removed from a tooth to return it to its untouched state. Please be very certain when deciding to have veneers. Once you have porcelain veneers, you will always have porcelain veneers. The only way to change them is to have a new set of veneers.

 

1. 1. “All porcelain veneers are the same”. Not at all. Creating porcelain veneers is an extremely technique sensitive process. The end result always depends on how much attention to detail is given throughout the whole process. It goes without saying that detailed veneers look and feel very natural. But did you know the integrity of the veneers all depend on how they were manufactured, handled, treated and bonded onto your teeth. The skill of the team behind the veneers makes all the difference. If you are looking at getting porcelain veneers, be sure to see a cosmetic dentist highly trained in aesthetic dentistry.

 

Procedure For Getting Veneers

There are several stages to getting your porcelain veneers. 

1. 1. Smile Design Consult. This is where we work out together what we want your smile to look like when we finish. How much change do we want? How will your veneers match your face? How will your smile dynamics interact with your veneers? How will this all affect the functionality of your teeth? What if you have no idea what you want? The smile design consult is very important to so that we know exactly what we want to achieve, and what it takes to achieve it. This may include clinical photography, simulation models, and trial smiles. There is no commitment to treatment at this point. It may take several visits to finalise this.

 

1. 1. Veneer Preparation. When we have decided on the Smile Design, we can proceed to veneer preparation. This is where the teeth are prepared to accept the veneers. You will leave this appointment with temporary veneers that are the same shape as the veneers we design together during the Smile Design. This is typically a longer appointment, depending on how many veneers are done.

 

1. 1. Smile Design. So you’ve been able to trial the shape of your veneers for a little while now. This stage is where we work out the details. Do we need to modify the shape of the veneers? How much texture would we like? What colour do we want? Do we want them longer? Shorter? Rounder? Flatter? Etc. This is normally a shorter appointment.

 

1. 1. Veneer Insert. This is the exciting day you receive your veneers. All the hard work has been done and this is where it all comes together. You leave with your veneers finished. This is a longer appointment.

 

1. Review. We always review our cosmetic work to make sure everything is just right, and exactly the way we planned.