Choosing Porcelain Veneers for an Enhanced and Natural Smile

What Are Dental Veneers?

Veneers are thin, tooth-colored shells that are placed in front of each individual tooth. If you’ve dealt with gaps, stains, or chips, and have good oral health, you’re a great candidate for veneers. Choosing Porcelain Veneers can recreate the look and feel of a natural tooth, all while improving the strength, resilience, and appearance at the same time.

Veneers Create Natural Smiles because they can:

Restore cracked teeth
Straighten teeth
Replace missing teeth
Cover stains
Make teeth a bright, white color
Make teeth uniform in size and shape
Close gaps between teeth

It’s a wonderful way to enhance the look of your smile – giving you a Hollywood smile and also improving the health of your smile. It’s also important to keep in mind that veneers are permanent and are long-lasting, so make sure and speak with your dentist about all your options when considering veneers.

Customized Results with Porcelain Veneers

Your smile is a very personal thing. So whether you’re choosing porcelain veneers to be applied to just one tooth or multiple teeth, we can help you achieve the smile you want. They can be customized to help them look natural in the context of your surrounding natural teeth. There’s a big difference in getting a couple of veneers vs. a smile makeover of 10 to 20 veneers. For patients who are completing a smile makeover with veneers, we like to take into account the entire smile, including the whole face, for the best aesthetic result. This gives the smile a symmetrical, natural look that’s personalized for that specific patient and can transform your smile.

What Are the Benefits of Porcelain Veneers?

Corrects Unwanted Imperfections: One of the primary advantages to porcelain veneers is the ability to repair chipped, broken, or gapped teeth quickly. Veneers offer instant results that, in most situations, eliminate the need for additional dental cosmetic procedures. Overall, porcelain veneers help conceal minor cosmetic and orthodontic issues.

Provides a Protective Coating for Teeth: Tooth enamel plays an important role in tooth function and longevity. Enamel is said to be much stronger than bones in the human body. Although it is resilient, enamel can wear down over time and leave teeth susceptible to decay, discoloration, and unwanted oral conditions. Porcelain veneers offer a solution to damaged enamel as it provides a layer of coating that protects to teeth. Veneers also limit any discomfort or visible damage caused by worn-down enamel.

Whitens Teeth Immediately: For people who have stained or yellowed teeth, porcelain veneers offer a quick fix. They shield the front portion of the teeth, disguising any discoloration and presenting a more beautiful smile. Porcelain veneers are resistant to stains and offer protection and longevity. After this dental procedure, individuals do not have to worry about whitening their capped teeth. Instead, they can comfortably sip coffee, wine, and other drinks without hesitation.

Read more HERE about veneers.

The Pros and Cons of Choosing Porcelain Veneers

Pros:

Traditional porcelain veneers are considered permanent, lasting up to several decades.
They can make your teeth look close to perfect, correcting minor gaps and alignment issues far faster than braces or clear aligners like Invisalign. In fact, they’re sometimes dubbed “instant orthodontics.”
Porcelain veneers are stain-resistant (unlike composite veneers).
Their translucent quality makes them look very similar to natural teeth.
They’re highly customizable, with an array of shades to choose from.
You can get veneers for as few or as many teeth as you need to create a brighter smile, matching the veneers to the color of your natural teeth.
They can help downplay a gummy smile by making your tooth size more proportionate to the amount of gum you flash when you smile.

Cons:

In most cases, some of your natural tooth enamel has to be filed down to make room for the veneer, which makes the process irreversible. It can also increase tooth sensitivity, if these preparations are done too close to a nerve.
They can end up looking a little too perfect. Your dentist may even suggest adding some slight imperfections, to mimic natural teeth.
Dental veneers can hide a lot, but they can’t completely erase a major underlying issue.
Pressure from grinding can chip or crack the porcelain layers. If you grind your teeth at night, you’ll need to invest in a mouthguard.
If veneers crack or chip, they can’t just be repaired — they’ll need to be fully replaced, at an additional cost.
Veneers cost a few thousand dollars more than you’d pay for a combination of Invisalign and teeth whitening; however, they create a much more dramatic result.

Keep in mind that once your teeth are prepped for veneers, they will always need to be covered with a porcelain restoration. Meaning that once you get veneers, you will always have veneers. So, it’s really important to find a cosmetic dentist you are comfortable with, as this is a commitment, and you want to be happy with your results.

How Do Dental Veneers Create Natural Smiles?

Your teeth will be prepared for veneers first. Dental veneers create natural smiles because most times they take two visits for preparation and application. Dr. Anderson will make sure that the veneer is the perfect color for your smile and an impression will be taken of your teeth so your veneers can be created to fit perfectly in your mouth in your first visit. When choosing porcelain veneers, typically a bit of outer enamel is removed to allow for proper bonding between tooth and veneer. During your second visit, your veneers will be placed and light cured to ensure proper bonding and attachment.

Related Article from HealthLine: What to Know Before Getting Veneers

Caring for your veneers is just like caring for your natural teeth. Brushing & flossing daily and visiting your dentist for your exam & cleaning are essential to keeping your veneers healthy and having them last for many years to come.

We’d love for you to review a few of the other Case Studies we’ve put together in our Porcelain Veneer Smile Makeover Spotlight Stories we’ve created with our patients:

We love to highlight the success of our patients’ treatments and we’ve had a lot of interest in Porcelain Veneers being used in Smile Makeovers. So, we thought we’d a few of our Smile Makeover Spotlight Stories with you:

We have many more stories to share … just ask us!!

Why Do People Want Veneers?

There are many reasons why people are choosing dental veneers to makeover their smile. Here are the top six reasons why people make this choice:

Decayed and broken teeth
Crowded teeth treatment
People choose to close a gap in teeth, especially the front teeth
People with heavy, permanent teeth stains choose to enhance and brighten their smile with veneers
Many people choose to get veneers to lengthen teeth and create a more symmetrical smile
When previous teeth restorations have failed and the gums have pulled away to show an unsightly black edging around the tooth, veneers are a choice to restore teeth and the appearance of the smile

As you can see, there are several reasons people choose a makeover with porcelain veneers to achieve a confident smile. When a patient visits one of our offices, our goal is to help them in any way we can. When you are unhappy with your smile, you are less likely to share it with others. Enhancing your teeth will make it much easier for you to express your joy through smiling. We want to help you in choosing dental veneers or the best treatment option for you because, everyone deserves to have the confidence to smile.

Learn More about Dental Health and Veneers: from WebMD HERE.

How Do You Get Porcelain Veneers?

Many patients visit our office with questions about the steps of getting dental veneers or have concerns they’d like to talk through. Below, we’ve outlined several steps of the veneer process in order to ease nerves and answer some questions.

One of the first steps in the process is to get diagnostics of the patient. Impressions and photos are taken to map out what the final teeth restorations will look like before preparing the teeth.
Once diagnostics have been done, the patient we’ll begin the actual process of preparing the teeth. During this appointment, your dentist will discuss shape, size, contour, and shade with you, so that the temporaries and final veneers will be customized to your satisfaction.
Your teeth will be prepared by trimming down a small amount of your tooth, about half of a millimeter. Then an impression of your teeth will be taken and models created to get the sizing accurate for your veneers; and your temporary veneers will be placed.
After that, your porcelain veneers will be created in the lab based upon the information provided by the dentist.
Your perfect smile is just around the corner! Once the lab has finished creating the veneers, the dentist will place them. They will be bonded to your teeth using a special adhesive and post-op photos will be taken.
After this appointment there may be a following appointment to check the final outcome of the teeth restorations.

Read more HERE about What to Know Before Getting Porcelain Veneers.

Caring for Your Porcelain Veneers

Porcelain veneers are not high maintenance and do not require any special care. To keep your smile in tip-top shape, continue with your normal oral hygiene routine of brushing and flossing daily and seeing your dentist on a regular basis. However, if you want to preserve your veneers for the longest amount of time, we recommend:

Protecting your teeth at night if you grind them with a mouth guard
Wearing a mouth guard during contact sports
Try not to chew on hard items such as fingernails
Do not use your teeth to open packages

At the offices of Thomas L. Anderson, DDS and Associates, we know that no one wants unnatural-looking teeth, and that’s why we use the latest technology to create beautiful smiles when our patients are choosing porcelain veneers to enhance your confident smile without anyone noticing!

Boost Your Confidence

Feeling confident in your smile can help boost your confidence and help you develop a healthy self-esteem. With a bright, lovely teeth, you are more likely to smile, and this may lead to better first impressions and help you enhance your personal and professional relationships because you exude a confident smile and it shows throughout your demeanor. A beautiful, confident smile will help you shine and become the best version of yourself!

We Can Help You Achieve the Confident Smile of Your Dreams!

When choosing porcelain veneers, the very popular procedure that we have used to help our patients achieve the look and function they want from their smile. If you have been dreaming of the perfect smile, reach out to our team of professionals to discuss how veneers could be the solution for you. Contact us to book your appointment or ask us to share more of our Porcelain Veneer Smile Makeover Spotlight Stories with you!

Schedule Your Smile Consultation Today

Show off your smile with porcelain veneers or we can combine our cosmetic dentistry services to create a full smile makeover! If you’re concerned about discolored, missing, chipped, misaligned, or cracked teeth, come talk to us to see what your best solution is for a healthy, beautiful smile. We can treat anything from disease to replacing missing teeth and create a new smile you can be proud of.

Porcelain dental veneers create natural smiles and are one such procedure that we have used to help our patients achieve the look and function they want. If you have been dreaming of the perfect smile, reach out to our team of professionals to discuss how choosing porcelain veneers could be the solution for you. Whatever your smile goals are, we can help you meet them at the offices of Thomas L. Anderson, DDS and Associates. Please call to schedule your Smile Consultation at 816-373-4440.

Contact us today to schedule your dental appointment and meet with our skilled dentists at one of our three conveniently located dental office locations within the Kansas City area, including Lee’s Summit / Independence, the Country Club Plaza and Downtown Kansas City. The gentle dentists and expert team at Thomas L. Anderson and Associates look forward to working with you to treat your dental emergency, achieve proper oral health and a beautiful smile that will last a lifetime. If you have any questions about your dental insurance benefits, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are happy to review your policy! Please give us a call today to schedule an appointment and become part of our dental family.

DOWNTOWN - 816-421-6667

INDEPENDENCE - 816-373-4440

COUNTRY CLUB PLAZA - 816-531-3439