All about veneers – complete guide to transform your smile

Veneers are ultra-thin shells placed over the front part of the tooth to give you a radiant and natural-looking smile. They’re often made from porcelain or composite materials and are permanently bonded to your teeth. Dental veneers can enhance the shape, size, colour, and structure of teeth, thereby giving you a smile makeover.

The reason veneers have gained immense popularity in the dental world is due to their ability to change your smile for the better while being minimally invasive. They do not require extensive dental work, are virtually painless, and can transform your smile in a few sittings. The types of veneers available with Dr Jaise Joy include feldspathic and Emax porcelain veneers and composite veneers.

Porcelain veneers are often the go-to choice for patients who want to have a complete smile makeover. These types of veneers usually trump the others in popularity, owing to the following attributes:

• High-quality material and durable (can last up to 15 years with proper care)
• Offers a more natural appearance
• Stain-resistant
• Non-porous

The process of getting porcelain veneers

The typical dental veneer process usually requires two to three settings, depending on the work needed to be done.

This includes the Digital Smile Design step, where dentists will first provide you with a digital preview of what your smile will potentially look like. It is followed by the “Prep” visit stage, where we take a series of scans or impressions. At this stage, a fine layer of your enamel may also be shaved off to place temporary veneers while your permanent ones are being fabricated in our state-of-the-art dental lab. Next up is the final sitting, where we place the high-quality, custom-designed porcelain veneers on your teeth.

Are porcelain veneers the best option?

While porcelain veneers are generally preferred by patients due to their durability and natural-looking appearance, they can also be slightly more expensive compared to other veneer materials. Composite veneers, for example, can be fixed within a day to cover issues such as chips, cracks and discoloration of teeth and are cheaper. Porcelain veneers, on the other hand, require the dentist to shave a thin layer of your tooth enamel and may involve more prep work.

It is recommended to consult a cosmetic dentist for the veneer treatment that best suits your case, dental needs, and budget. We offer a whole range of veneers and have them custom-made in our high-tech dental lab.

How to take care of your veneers?

No special care is required to keep your veneers in top shape. All you will need to do is follow a good standard of oral hygiene to maintain your veneers, which includes:

• Brushing twice a day
• Flossing or using interdental brushes
• Visiting the hygienist and dentist for regular check-ups and to keep a check on your veneers
• Having regular dental cleanings

Patients who clench or grind their teeth at night may need to wear a custom-made splint overnight to protect their veneers from wear or breakage

Besides following the above basic dental hygiene regime, it will help to pay close attention to the following recommendations in order to increase the longevity of your porcelain veneers:

Don’t chew ice or other hard objects

While porcelain veneers are durable, they are chances of them chipping or breaking. Chewing on ice and other hard stuff, such as candy, popcorn kernels, pens, fingernails, etc., can damage your veneers. You must also avoid using your teeth as a tool to open bottle caps or tear off plastic packages.

Protect your smile when playing sports

You may accidentally damage your veneers while playing contact sports such as basketball, football, wrestling, etc. To protect your veneers and your natural teeth from potential trauma, invest in a mouth guard.

Beware of stains

Just like your natural teeth, veneers are also prone to getting stained, so it’s a good idea to limit foods that are known to cause discolouration, like coffee, red wine, dark sodas, tea, and berries. Smoking is another known cause of stains, so you may want to consider kicking the habit. Not only will it improve your overall health, but it will also keep your veneers gleaming and white.