Porcelain veneers
Everything you need to know
Last updated: 27th February 2024
Written by: Dr Zaeem Jafri
Porcelain Veneers
Porcelain veneers have been around for a long time. A porcelain veneer is made in a dental lab and covers the front surface of your teeth, like a false nail. This process usually involves some preparation of the underlying teeth to make room for the veneer and to ensure it sits nicely on the tooth. When done properly by a skilled dentist, this preparation can usually be done extremely minimally.
Porcelain veneers look amazing and maintain their appearance for a very long time (12-15 years) at which point you may decide to replace them. They cost more than composite veneers due to the additional laboratory materials and fees but in the long run, may work out cheaper and give you a better result as they will require replacement less often.
Example of porcelain veneers
Before veneers
After 4 veneers
The veneers themselves
The process of getting porcelain veneers
Before treatment
Dental check-ups and records
Before getting veneers, it’s extremely important to ensure your underlying teeth and gums are healthy and that you look after them well. You will need to have a full check-up from your dentist to make sure you don’t have decay or gum disease and that your teeth are suitable for veneers.
Smile planning
Your dentist will take pictures, videos, digital scans and other measurements of your teeth so that they can work with their lab technician and design the appropriate smile for you. Using this information, they will make a ‘mock-up’ which is a model of what your teeth will look like after treatment.
First treatment appointment
Trial smile
Using the mock-up, your dentist will place an acrylic mould over your teeth so that you can see the proposed final veneers in your mouth. At this stage, you can chat to your dentist about any changes you want to make to the proposed shapes.
Tooth preparation
Once you are happy with the trial smile, your dentist will prepare your teeth. This involves shaving down your teeth in the areas where they need to be so that the veneers can fit snuggly against your teeth. A well-trained and skilled dentist will be able to carry this out with minimal drilling to make sure your teeth remain healthy under the veneers.
Scans / impressions
Once your teeth are prepared, your dentist will take a scan or impression of the teeth to send to the lab technician who will be making the porcelain veneers.
Provisional veneers
At the end of your appointment, your dentist will then place some provisional veneers over your prepared teeth so that you can walk away and see how you like your new smile.
Review appointment
Review provisional veneers
After a week, your dentist will want to review your provisional veneers to make sure you are happy with them. You can make changes to the shapes at this stage and the dentist will work with you and their lab technician to make sure they know how to make your final veneers
Second treatment appointment
Removal of provisional veneers
Your dentist will remove your provisional veneers, either by flicking them off or cutting through them
Testing your porcelain veneers
Your dentist will then see if your final veneers fit properly. If they do, then they will place them on your teeth and allow you to have a look at them before glueing them in place. Again at this stage, you can ask them to make any adjustments to. the shape and colour of the final veneers. If any adjustments need to be made, then your dentist will place some new provisional veneers on your teeth and send the porcelain veneers back to the lab technician.
Cementing the final veneers
If everything is okay with your veneers, your dentist will then cement them permanently in place using some resin dental cement.
Review appointments
After your veneers have been fitted, your dentist will bring you back for a review appointment to make sure that you are happy with them, that the veneers are all sound with no issues and that you are cleaning properly around your veneers.
Preparing teeth for veneers
Many people are put off from having porcelain veneers as they think that their teeth need to be shaved down into pegs in order to have them placed. This is not true, if you are going to see a highly skilled dentist, they will be able to plan the treatment in a way that it requires as little destruction of your natural tooth as possible.
If your teeth are heavily discoloured or are broken down significantly, then your dentist may recommend crowns instead of veneers.
If your teeth are crooked then you may need significant drilling to make veneers possible and your dentist may decide that they are not the correct treatment option for you unless you straighten your teeth first.
Natural teeth
Prepared for veneers
Final veneers fitted
Veneers do not require your teeth to be cut back into little pegs. Those are dental crowns and are only needed in certain situations.
Chat to us about veneers
If you are interested in veneers and want to speak directly with a dentist about them, click the button below and we’ll put you in touch with one of our UK-registered dentists who will reply within the next 24 hours.
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