Learn More About the Process of Dental Veneers

Wafer thin, dental veneers gain most of their strength from the tooth that it is bonded to. These porcelain devices are attached to the tooth using dental cement, which ensures that they have the same level of support that normal enamel would have. It is an interesting fact that enamel is the body’s hardest substance and also its' most brittle. Similarly, dental veneers are brittle by themselves but strong when they are attached to the teeth. Once cemented into place your veneers will have most of the strength and durability of a naturally occurring tooth. This is important since dental veneers can be used to effectively fix such a wide variety of challenges. Everything from minor chips in the tooth to slightly misaligned teeth and even unsightly gaps can be repaired using dental veneers, so it is important that they are malleable and strong. 

While dental veneers do get their strength from the bonding, making it critical that the teeth are well prepared, the bonding itself is among the last steps that we will perform. Before you reach the bonding stage, there are several phases of preparation that go into making a dental veneer that fits perfectly in your mouth. This will involve a minimum of two visits to the clinic to prepare and ultimately to fit you with your new veneers. Since veneers are designed to give your teeth the best look possible we will be doing things like matching the shade of your teeth and ensuring that the shape of the new veneer is precisely right. 

Step one: Preparing for dental veneers. 
We will make a careful match of the shading and color of the surrounding teeth to ensure that the veneer is made to match the rest of your teeth. Next, we will take an impression, which is done using impression putty. The impression is used to manufacture a custom dental veneer to fit exactly on the tooth in question. In order to make room for the dental veneers, we will need to trim some of the enamel off of the tooth that will be holding the veneer. Typically this is between 0.5 millimeters and 0.7 millimeters and is exactly the same thickness as the veneer itself so that the tooth remains uniform. In some cases, the dentist may need to trim more, up to as much as 1.5 millimeters. During this trimming, any decay that may have occurred will also be removed from the tooth. 

Step two: Attaching the dental veneers.
Once the dental veneers return from the lab, they will need to be attached. This is an important visit, as we will need to make sure the dental veneers are an exact fit. To do this, the veneers will be placed, removed, trimmed and shaped, and then replaced until we are satisfied with the fit. The color and shading will be double checked, and once the shape and color are perfect, dental cement will be used to bond the dental veneers in place.