Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Porcelain Veneers

A veneer is a lifelike dental restoration that can be secured to the surface of a tooth to mask a variety of minor dental flaws. These wafter-thin, translucent shells are made from durable, high-quality porcelain that closely resembles natural tooth enamel and blends in seamlessly with the surrounding teeth.

If you’re looking for an attractive cosmetic remedy, porcelain veneers can provide beautiful results and transform your self-image.

Crowns cover your teeth like a cap. A veneer is a thin shell that’s applied to the front of your tooth causing less damage to the adjacent tooth tissues.

Porcelain veneers are extremely versatile and can be used to address a wide range of dental problems; chips, gaps, and stained teeth to name a few. The best materials mimic your tooth enamel and can be colour-matched with neighbouring natural teeth for stunning realistic result.

You can see and feel the quality of our dental veneers as they offer remarkable strength and durability with stunning aesthetics.

The process is not reversible once you’ve had your tooth prepared. If a veneer cracks, it’s difficult to repair without having to replace the entire veneer. We won’t recommend veneers for patients with poor gum health and warn patients prone to biting their nails or clenching their teeth that these habits can cause veneers to crack. Lastly, teeth with veneers are still susceptible to decay so it’s important you maintain optimal oral health and visit us at Bay House Dental Practice, regularly.

Generally, veneers require two visits to our Cardiff dentists: one to shape the underlying tooth and one to cement the restoration. Between visits, your dentist can place a temporary veneer to help prevent sensitivity, allow function, and provide a beautiful smile. These temporaries are designed to be in your mouth for a limited time but should be comfortable until your new veneers are completed. Patients often opt for a custom finish at the laboratory, so there will also be a couple visits to the lab after the preparatory work has been done- one for the shade match and one on the day the veneer is fitted to ensure you are happy with the aesthetics.

Correctly designed and accurately placed porcelain veneers by our experienced cosmetic dentist in Cardiff can last over 10 years approximately dependent on care. They do not require any special care other than regular brushing, flossing and visits to the dentist.

Porcelain veneers are very strong. Nevertheless, porcelain is a glass and can crack if very strong forces are applied. It’s advised to avoid chewing ice, hard nuts, sweets and hard fruit like apples. Natural teeth are often damaged by these same foods but while porcelain veneers are very resilient, they aren’t indestructible.

Dental veneers are a great solution for people with discoloured, worn down, chipped, misaligned, uneven or irregularly shaped teeth. Porcelain Veneers are a good solution to close a gap that may exist between your front teeth.

These aesthetic issues will be addressed in your cosmetic treatment planning by utilising digital smile design, helping to foresee any concerns. Most individuals whiten their natural teeth prior to having a veneer, in order to be able to have their veneers in a whiter shade.

There is no higher or lower prevalence of tooth decay with veneers if they receive appropriate care.

Porcelain veneers should never stain, however, if your teeth tend to stain, you should try to avoid or minimise food and drinks that lead to staining.

Teeth grinding will eventually damage your veneers just as this habit will grind down natural teeth. We’ll provide you with a protective bite guard to wear at night to reduce the stress on your teeth while you sleep.

There will likely be some sensitivity to hot and cold food and drinks for a short time due to having a thin layer of enamel removed. This should disappear in a few days. Avoiding hot and cold foods is recommended for the first few days to allow the veneers to settle.

During the lab visit, you and our master ceramist will discuss multiple aspects of your veneers, including:

• Size
• Shape
• Colour
• Design

Meeting directly with the ceramist gives you the opportunity to participate in the customisation of your porcelain dental veneers.

If you want to improve the appearance of your smile, but don’t want veneers, or your teeth are not suitable for these, there might be other options:

• Teeth whitening to reduce discolouration
• Composite bonding, where the tooth is reshaped with advanced white filling materials
• Restoration with dental crowns or bridges
• Dental implantsto replace missing teeth