Achieve a completely new looking smile without years and years of cosmetic dental work. Porcelain veneers are often called “instant orthodontics” because the cosmetic results are similar to those offered through orthodontic treatments. Unlike metal braces or Invisalign, veneers can reshape your smile in two short visits. The goal of this article is to show how veneers are worth it by exploring the benefits of veneers.
Consider the details, so you have a better understanding of the fact that your photo ready grin is within reach.
How Veneers Help You Score a Winning Smile
Veneers make an excellent form of cosmetic treatment because they can address a number of esthetic concerns through a single form of treatment. Deep discoloration or staining, jagged edges, and poorly shaped teeth can all be corrected with veneers. Veneers are worth it because they not only improve your smile but they also protect your enamel.
Maintain More of Your Healthy Teeth
Thanks to modern advancements, veneers are thin durable sheets of porcelain. Sometimes as thin as a contact lens but still blessed with resistance to fracture. Yet they’re still a durable form of enhancement. This allows dentists to preserve more of the healthy tooth, while still placing veneers that sit naturally within the smile allowing for great confidence.
Prep less or no-prep veneers are made even thinner than their predecessors. Very little or no preparation must be done to your existing teeth in order to fit you with custom veneers. This is great news for patients that delayed treatment for fear their teeth will have to be heavily sanded. If you are looking for a seamless way to enhance your smile, prep less veneers could be ideal.
Are veneers worth it when you have significant concerns?
When weighing the pros and cons of placing veneers on your natural teeth, you first look at the types of veneers available. The most conservative of the cosmetic procedures is a composite veneer. Composite resin offers a short term result. Thin pieces of stain resistant porcelain can be overlaid onto the fronts of your teeth with minimal drilling. The picture perfect smile above has been done with minimal tooth reduction.
When you’re looking at your smile and you have some significant shape or tooth position issues, more planning is needed. If you consider drilling on teeth a negative, then you want less drilling to achieve your dream smile. A better cosmetic dentist will balance what is in your best interest. Veneers can be usually placed but perhaps too much drilling is needed to accomplish an ideal shape. Your dentist should be your advocate and tell you when something more than quickie veneers is best. There are times when a short course of Invisalign will pay big dividends. See another example of a recent veneer before and after case.
Are there more conservative treatment alternatives to veneers?
If you only have minor cosmetic blemishes, you may want to consider:
- Cosmetic bonding: Minor structural problems, like a chipped tooth, tooth decay, or sealing a root canal can be addressed using cosmetic bonding. The strong tooth colored material can be color-matched to your smile.
- Teeth whitening: Dr. Fondriest recommends take home teeth whitening kits. Nite White Excel 3 is a liquid gel that safely and effectively whitens your teeth while you sleep. The FDA has recognized the active ingredient in Nite White, carbamide peroxide, for many years as an oral antiseptic. The gel can remove stains caused by food, coffee, tobacco, aging, and other sources.
Veneers are most worth it when the teeth are:
- Misshapen
- Small
- Decayed
- Lost bone from gum disease
- Very discolored
- Gapped
- Misaligned
- Chipped
- Cracked
Why is a No-Prep Veneer Worth it as an Option?
For a long time, veneers had to be made at least 0.5 mm thick, in order to prevent breaking. And while that may sound incredibly thin, for most patients it still required heavy filing of the teeth. The reduction gave room to affix the veneers in a way that allowed them to sit properly within the smile. However, skilled ceramicists have now found a way to make veneers less than half of that thick. As thin as 0.2 mm or roughly the thickness of a contact lens. This means very little, or even no drilling is required! High quality veneers have a long service life.
This is great news for patients with healthy teeth, whose only problems are cosmetic. Because it means very little of the natural tooth enamel will be damaged. It also makes the procedure of affixing tooth veneers less invasive and more comfortable. In fact, many patients do not even require anesthesia, while obtaining no-prep porcelain veneers.
How To Begin Your Journey With Dental Veneers
The best way to start is to come in to discuss your smile with our team. We can tell you all about smile improvements, which are right for you, and even whether some other treatment could be even better.
Life-changing benefits of dental veneers can be fitted with two easy treatment visits to our dental practice. During your first visit, Dr. Fondriest will prepare your teeth. Once your teeth have been prepped, an impression of your smile will be taken, and you will be given temporary veneers.
Over the course of the next week or two, your new veneers will be manufactured. The shells will be shaped to enhance the symmetry of your smile, and the color will be customized to brighten your smile. During your second and final visit, Dr. Fondriest will attach the new shells using a special bonding agent. Any minor adjustments that are needed will be made at that time, and you will be able to immediately return to work and normal activities. One benefit of porcelain veneers is that there is almost no recovery time needed.
Come learn why veneers are totally worth it
We invite you to view the before and after pictures of the featured opalescent veneer patient above. If you thought that drastic cosmetic results only come with extended hours in the dentist’s chair, think again! Veneers can revamp your smile in only two easy visits to our Chicago area dental practice. Both men and women are asking for this treatment.
Contact us today for your first visit to discuss why veneers are worth it. Or, if you already have started on your makeover journey but want to confirm your dental treatment plan. To schedule a consultation to plan your cosmetic dentistry, call us today at 847-234-0517. We proudly serve residents of Chicago and all surrounding communities in the Chicago Metro area. Our boutique dental practice mostly serves the Chicago metropolitan area including the North Shore and Northwest suburbs.
Dr. Fondriest is a Nationally recognized and highly sought after cosmetic dentist. He serves clients from throughout the United States