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What Are Veneers?

By: Talia Ahoubim

Porcelain veneers are thin shells of tooth-colored materials that look natural and are custom-made to cover the front surface of teeth in order to improve your smile and overall confidence. Once these shells are bonded to your teeth, there is a notable change in the color, shape, length, and/or size. Dr. Sharon highly promotes porcelain veneers as opposed to composite veneers, since they better resist stains and better reflect the properties of your natural teeth through mimicking the light.

Am I a Good Candidate for Veneers?

At our office, we offer veneers to correct a wide-range of problems. These typically include but are not limited to the following:

• Teeth that are chipped or broken
• Teeth that are stained or discolored
• Teeth with gaps in between them
• Teeth that are unusually shaped
• Teeth that are misaligned or uneven
• Veneers also hide signs of tooth decay while providing a natural tooth appearance

Many individuals may shy away from veneers due to the cost as well as many insurances not covering the procedure. Despite this, at Sweet Tooth Dental Center, we offer a year of interest- free financing with CareCredit. This ensures that you can achieve your goal smile without the pressure of being able to completely pay for this procedure upfront; your payments will be conveniently split up into manageable monthly payments.

The Procedure

Getting a porcelain veneer done at our office can be as easy as 3 visits, each of which has crucial steps toward achieving your goal smile. Dr. Sharon strives for perfection, so he makes sure that the patient is completely satisfied before moving forward from one step to the next.

Visit 1: Before starting any treatment, Dr. Sharon personally consults with each patient in order to know exactly what he or she is trying to achieve as well as examines each patient to know how many veneers need to be done. Upon confirmation from the patient, Dr. Sharon begins treatment. Not only does Dr. Sharon strive for perfection, but he also ensures that the patient feels comfortable, so he is extremely gentle and numbs the area being treated.
First, Dr. Sharon creates a wax-up which will help determine the eventual appearance and goal to be achieved after treatment is performed. The wax up is created by the lab using the patient’s impressions, pictures in different degrees of smiling, and outcome goals. This wax-up also gives patients an idea about the length, shape, and/or size; it also allows room for changes before the veneer is finalized and sent to our dental lab. This ensures that the end result matches what both the patient and Dr. Sharon envisioned.

Visit 2: During this visit, Dr. Sharon prepares the tooth for a veneer by carefully shaving off a tiny amount of enamel from the tooth surface, and this will later be added to the tooth surface. Additionally, during this visit, Dr. Sharon will fabricate a temporary, which the patient will wear until the final product, the veneer, is finished by the lab. The temporaries will be fabricated with the help of the patient’s wax up therefore giving the patient an opportunity to evaluate the shape and length and determine if any changes are needed.

Visit 3: The lab that we work with utilizes the highest quality materials in order to achieve the most natural looking aesthetic. Thus, it takes about two and a half weeks for the veneer to be complete. During this visit, Dr. Sharon evaluates both the color and the fit. If everything is good and both Dr. Sharon and the patient is fully satisfied, he will bond in the veneer This appointment does not take very long, and in no time, the patient will leave feeling more confident with a newer smile!

Our Work

• Our female patient had disproportional front teeth with discolored fillings on them. As a result, this patient received 6 veneer for treatment.
• Additionally, two more crowns were recommended to this patient to give a fuller smile line.

• Our 59 year old female patient’s treatment consisted of a combination of 11 crowns and veneers (including several implant crowns on her upper teeth.)
• We achieved our goal of restoring a more symmetrical, youthful, and a healthier smile.
• This patient had extensive wear and decay prior to treatment.