For some a bad first date or another uncomfortable job interview may be enough reason to take the plunge and get dental veneers. This cosmetic dental procedure is a common way to address a range of dental issues, including discoloration, uneven teeth, and smiles dominated by gums. Whatever the reason, dental veneers are a simple way to gain confidence in your smile and life.
What are dental veneers?
Dental veneers are thin, customized tooth-colored material shells meant to cover your front teeth’s surface to enhance appearance. These veneers can be made from resin composite or porcelain materials. Dental veneers better imitate natural teeth’ light-reflecting properties. When getting dental veneers, it’s essential to note that they aren’t required for all teeth and don’t last a lifetime.
You can choose to get temporary veneers to see if you actually want to go ahead with treatment and to see if you have any sensitivities to the bonding procedures.
Five Advantages to Dental Veneers
Dental veneers are associated with the following advantages:
- They can improve your smile, giving your teeth a more attractive, but still natural appearance.
- They can straighten your teeth.
- They hide stains and whiten your teeth.
- Maintenance is relatively easy.
- You can avoid more enamel erosion.
Improve your smile
Dental veneers, primarily porcelain veneers, are solid and durable, lasting up to 15 years with the right care. They’re an excellent way to hide imperfections and close tooth gaps to enhance your appearance while making you want to smile even wider. The material resists cracking, chipping, and staining. If gums take charge of your smile, consider dental veneers because they’re personalized to suit your mouth and the smile you crave.
Straighten your teeth without braces
Braces are a time-tested and effective way to fix misaligned teeth. The wire pressure slowly pushes the teeth to their correct position over time, leading to perfect teeth alignment. But braces take a lot of time and regular maintenance.
Dental veneers are another option for orthodontic treatment. They come in handy, especially if your misalignments are minor. Porcelain veneers can straighten your teeth faster than braces, as they only require a few dental visits.
Hide permanent stains
While cleaning or whitening can eliminate tobacco, tea, or coffee stains, intrinsic stains might not go away. Discoloration from specific medications, including excess fluoride treatments or tetracycline, can make your teeth brown, gray, or dull. However, dental veneers can help mask discoloration, restoring your teeth to a natural, brilliant look.
Easy maintenance
Maintaining beautiful veneers doesn’t require special care, but you do need to take care of them. Dental veneer maintenance requires you to maintain good, daily oral hygiene, using nonabrasive toothpaste to brush your teeth and floss at least once daily to safeguard your gum and teeth and veneers’ health. You also need to be careful to avoid chewing hard substances, like your fingernails, the end of your pen, ice cubes, or the bone that found its way into your soup.
While veneers whiten and hide stains, they can become stained, too. Limit red wine, berries, coffee, soy sauce, dark sodas, and dark teas. Be sure to schedule those dentist visits, as well. It’s important that your veneers are regularly checked and cleaned to spot potential issues and fixed them before larger issues arise. Taking care of your veneers is much like taking your teeth. You can keep them bright and white with very little extra care.
Avoid more enamel erosion
Teeth enamel is constantly exposed to bodily fluids, food, and other things that may result in erosion. You might experience increased tooth decay, discoloration, or tooth sensitivity if the enamel wears out. With dental veneers, you can prevent tooth enamel erosion while avoiding additional decay and wear. They also make your teeth less sensitive to cold and hot beverages and foods.
Disadvantages of Dental Veneers
In spite of all their advantages, dental veneers are not perfect. Some of its common disadvantages include:
- The process is irreversible.
- They are irreparable in case of cracking or chipping.
- Removal of enamel can increase teeth sensitivity.
- Veneers cannot stop tooth decay.
Safety
Of the many smile enhancing procedures, dental veneers are among the safest. With almost zero recovery time, patients can even drive themselves home unless they were sedated. It takes a few hours for sedation to wear off, and most patients do not have any problems which require time to heal.
As with any medical procedure there is risk involved, but it is minimal. Anyone concerned about safety should have a heart-to-heart talk with the dentist before scheduling an appointment.
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