Dental veneers are considered one of the most popular and effective methods to create a natural-looking, aesthetically pleasing smile.
Perfectly customised and finely sculpted to your teeth, dental veneers are designed to conceal a range of problems such as crookedness, discolouration and cracks. A single tooth or multiple teeth can simultaneously undergo the veneering process.
What are veneers?
Veneers are a thin layer (commonly made of porcelain) bonded to the teeth, covering them; improving the appearance of your teeth as well as protecting the surface of your teeth.
Generally, veneers are fabricated with incredibly strong, durable and largely stain resistant ceramic materials. Porcelain is often selected for its remarkable property to mimic natural tooth structure. Today’s materials are lifelike and very durable.
Lake View Dental in Kawana provide high-quality veneers to help correct a range of aesthetic concerns, including:
- Chipped or cracked teeth
- Worn teeth
- Crowded or misaligned teeth
- Misshapen teeth
- Severely discoloured or stained teeth
- Unwanted gaps
How are veneers applied?
Generally, dental veneering involves 3 separate visits to your dentist; one for a detailed consultation, fabricating the veneers and applying them.
Dental veneer consultation
The first stage of treatment is a comprehensive consultation, which involved your active participation. During your appointment, your dentist will listen to your concerns, perform an assessment, determine suitability for treatment and formulate a plan. They will discuss what you can expect from the procedure and limitations. Based on your suitability, they may make impressions of your mouth and teeth.
Tooth preparation
Preparing a tooth for a veneer will involve removing about 1/2 millimeter of enamel from the tooth surface, which is generally the thickness of the veneer to be bonded. Local anaesthetic may be applied to numb the treatment area.
Your dentist will them create an impression of your mouth and teeth if not done already. This model will be sent to our dental laboratory to construct your customised veneer/s. The fabrication process typically takes 2-4 weeks for your dentists to receive the veneer/s. While you wait for your final veneer/s, your dentist would have placed temporary veneers.
Veneer bonding
This stage will involve permanently cementing the dental veneer to your tooth. Prior to this, your dentist will temporarily place it on your tooth to ensure the fit and colour is correct. They may remove and trim the veneer in order to achieve the proper fit or adjust the colour with the shade of cement used.
Next, your dentist will prepare your tooth with a clean, polish and etch (process to roughen the tooth for strong bonding). A specially designed cement is applied to the veneer which is then placed on the tooth. Once correctly positioned, your dentist will apply a light beam to the dental veneer. This activates the chemicals in the cement, causing it to harden or cure.
The final stage will be clean-up or removal of any excess cement. Your dentist will perform a final evaluation of your bite and veneer placement to ensure no further adjustments are required.
A follow-up appointment may be organised in 1-2 weeks to again examine the veneer placement and check how your gums are responding to the veneer.
Veneers FAQs
Depending on how you care for them as well as the condition of the natural teeth and gums, veneers can last between seven and twenty years.
Veneers can be put on crooked teeth however the process may be longer and more involved depending on how crooked the teeth are. Crooked, overlapping or flaring teeth may need to be reduced before the veneer is applied.
Good oral hygiene is all that is needed to maintain veneers; brushing, flossing and keeping up with dentists visits.
With predictable results that can last you a long time, porcelain veneers produce results that are well worth the effort.
Veneers at Lake View Dental Kawana, Sunshine Coast
Contact us today for more information about our high-quality dental veneers of request a personalised consultation with one of our experienced Dentists on the Sunshine Coast.