What Exactly are Veneers?
Veneers are thin pieces of acrylic or porcelain that are applied over your natural teeth to hide imperfections or change their appearance. Veneers made their debut in 1928 when a California dentist, Charles Pincus, used them to temporarily change the appearance of actor’s teeth in a film shoot. He went on to create acrylic veneers that would be cemented with denture adhesive, but these were not long-lasting. It wasn’t until the late 1950s that the etching process was developed for tooth enamel, and the bond between veneers and the natural tooth surface could be made more permanent. Today veneers are incredibly durable and can last anywhere from 10 to 30 years with the proper care.
What Do You Use Veneers For?
So veneers are helpful for improving the appearance of your natural teeth, but what situations do they work in? Veneers can be incredibly useful for:
Chipped or Broken Teeth: If you have chipped or broken front teeth, they are interfering with the beauty of your smile. Veneers can cover chipped areas, and actually fill in the lost portion with a thicker piece that can strengthen and protect the natural tooth. Chipped teeth can result from a fall, blow to the mouth, or just biting down on something the wrong way. Our natural teeth are very resilient, but if they are already chipped they have lost some of their natural strength. A veneer can make a huge difference, even in a small chipped area, and can cover any imperfections.
Discolored Teeth: As we age, our teeth naturally yellow as the outer enamel gets thinner and the inner dentin shows through. Staining can also occur due to food and drink, and coffee, tea, soda, and red wine are all culprits that can cause stains. Another common cause of staining is smoking, and this can affect your teeth and make you appear older than you would like. Some less common causes of discoloration are intrinsic, which means they stain the inner dentin of the tooth. These can include being exposed to too much fluoride as a child, mothers using tetracycline while pregnant or tetracycline use under the age of 8, or other hereditary conditions. Tooth staining can be yellow, brown, or appear as white spots on the teeth. Whatever the cause of your tooth staining, chances are you would love to get rid of it. While tooth whitening can help some of the staining that occurs on the enamel, deeper staining of the dentin cannot be helped by bleaching. Veneers can be effective in covering these stains and restoring your bright, white smile! If you have large fillings in your teeth they can also cause variations in tooth shade and opacity, and veneers can help to obscure these imperfections.
Tooth Shape: Maybe your smile is white, and you don’t have any chips, but you have one tooth that is a different shape than the rest. Veneers can help! They can cover that one tooth, and make your smile uniform and beautiful. If your teeth are too small, or if your incisors are too long, veneers can be used to even out your smile.
Gaps: Do you have gaps in your teeth that you don’t like? Veneers can fill in the space between teeth and eliminate unsightly gaps. If you have a gap that you love, such as between your front teeth, you can still use veneers even if you want to preserve your unique gap! Gaps can be due to thumb sucking as a child, gum disease, or missing teeth, and veneers can fill them in!
Uneven Smile: If your smile is crooked because your teeth are not evenly spaced, or because a tooth on one side is much shorter than the rest, veneers can even things out. If your tooth line is uneven, veneers are a great solution that can fix your uneven smile.
Strength: Veneers go beyond just being a cosmetic fix, and can actually strengthen your teeth and prevent future damage or breakage. An already chipped tooth is weakened, and is especially vulnerable. Protect your teeth with veneers!
Bite: If you grind your teeth or chew on ice or other hard items on one side, your bite may be uneven which can lead to other complications. Veneers can help lengthen the side that is worn down, to restore not only your smile, but your bite.
Resist Staining: While you might be using veneers to cover up existing stains, another benefit is that they will resist future staining. Porcelain veneers are incredibly resistant to staining, even more so than the natural tooth enamel. Cover up stains, and protect your smile against future coffee, tea, and wine!
Are Veneers Painful?
The short answer is no. Most people have a local anesthesia during the etching process, but even those who don’t usually only experience pressure. Veneers are one of the cosmetic dental procedures that are less invasive, and even patients who are fearful of pain usually experience no problems. If you have had hot or cold tooth sensitivities before you got veneers, you will be happy that they will probably help reduce that pain and sensation while eating. Don’t let fear of dental procedures hold you back from getting veneers!
So, do veneers sound like a good option for you? To find out for sure, you should contact us at Meadowbrook Dental Care in Mineola for an initial consultation. We are your trusted source for both general and cosmetic dentistry, and we would love to help you perfect your smile! Don’t let stains, cracks, chips, or an uneven smile hold you back; find out if veneers are right for you!