If you can choose to carve your teeth to a perfectly aligned set, you probably would have done it long ago. With all of the new innovations for dental cosmetics, dental veneers created hope for those who wanted to have instantly perfect teeth. It makes your teeth perfect in color, shape and alignment. With its porcelain surface, the texture looks like a real tooth. This is the reason why most celebrities opted for dental veneers over other cosmetic procedures.

What is dental veneer?

Dental veneers are porcelain chips which are thin and are fabricated to fit perfectly on the surface of your teeth. They provide new appearance to your teeth’s shape, color and also length. They are bonded onto the surface to cover the unsightly appearance of your permanent teeth.

There are two kinds of dental veneers, the porcelain and the resin. Between these two types, the porcelain veneer is stain resistant. It can also reflect light much like natural teeth. The advantage of resin over the porcelain is that it requires only one appointment where as porcelain takes 2 visits. Another advantage for the resin is the cost; it is less expensive than the porcelain but it does not last as long. So in this case you have to decide if the upfront cost is more important to you or the cost of replacing it in the future.

When do you need to have dental veneers?

There are several reasons why you would want to get dental veneers. Here are the most common teeth conditions that need masking:

1. Corroded or worn down dentition. If your teeth are shorter than their original length due to brittleness brought about by grinding your teeth or poor habits, dental veneer can be used to reconstruct them. It restores your teeth’s natural size. Your dentist will check the best length and size for your smile and your face and will have the lab fabricate them to fit you perfectly.
2. Decayed teeth. If your tooth has cavities which are not very large and deep, removing the decay and replacing dental veneer over it will give you back a perfectly beautiful smile. The shade of the veneers is modeled to look like natural teeth. That is not too blinding white or else, it can look fake. But you can definitely make them as white as you want.
3.  Chipped teeth. When teeth are broken because of whatever reason and as long as the fractured area is not excessive, veneers provide the best solution to replace and restructure tooth to its natural form. This could look even better than your original teeth.
4. Widely spaced teeth. If you want to close the spaces between your teeth without the pain and discomfort brought by braces, dental veneers are the best choice. It can make the size of your teeth wider so that they can fill the spaces between them.
5. Discolored teeth. Sometimes, bleaching is not enough to make your teeth the white shade that you want and desire. The stains like coffee, tobacco and cigarette are very much embedded on the surface making it sometimes impossible to whiten to your desired results with regular bleaching. Dental veneer can give new life and new look of a perfectly white smile.

If you have problems regarding teeth discoloration, shape, alignment and spacing, dental veneers can be your best solution. Ask your dentist about it. He or she will be very glad to tell you the pros and cons of having it. You will get to know more about the benefits of dental veneers and other cosmetic dental treatments you may want to take advantage of.

By Ladan Zinati