Veneers

Our practice does many complete veneer cases each year for patients who are seeking a dentist with a passion for cosmetic dentistry.  Patients come with a variety of reasons as to why they would like a new smile.  At times, your teeth simply cannot get any whiter and the natural tooth structure is not the ideal shade for a patient.  Some patients are born with shorter teeth, smaller teeth, peg laterals or even have antibiotic intrinsic stains from medication they took as a baby.  We have had patients who decided they wanted a new smile because their teeth were not in perfect alignment and they didn't want to go through braces to make the alignment changes needed.

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Whatever your reason, we would love to consult with you on your dental veneer journey and guide you on our two methods to make this happen.  There are two routes that both have their pros/cons:

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Option 1: 

1. Veneer consultation appointment/impressions: we will look at your smile, what can be improved as well as an ideal teeth shade for the lab to create your diagnostic wax-up.  We will take impressions to send to the lab and bite records.

2. Case presentation:  we will meet to go over the dental wax-up of what your veneers will look like and make sure you are happy with the shape, length and overall appearance of the veneers.

3. Preparation day: we will perform the veneer procedure by reducing a slight amount of the tooth.  We will take impressions to send to the lab and use the diagnostic wax-up to temporize the teeth in the new appearance.  You are able to get a good idea of what your veneers will look like in a more temporary material for approximately 2 weeks.

4. Seat day: we will remove the temporary veneers, try in the final case and if all is beautiful we will permanently cement the veneers in place.

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Option 2: 

1. Veneer consultation appointment/impressions: we will look at your smile, what can be improved as well as an ideal teeth shade for the lab to create your diagnostic wax-up.  We will take impressions to send to the lab and bite records.

2. Case presentation:  we will meet to go over the dental wax-up of what your veneers will look like and make sure you are happy with the shape, length and overall appearance of the veneers.

3. Preparation and seat day: we will perform the veneer procedure by reducing a slight amount of the tooth.  We will scan the teeth and the diagnostic wax-up to digitally plan your veneer case in the office.  We will mill out each veneer, glaze it and fire it while you wait.  Depending on the amount of teeth we are preparing, this can take approximately 4-8 hours.  Most patients will bring a laptop, book, snacks and any other comfort items.  Once the veneers are complete in our lab, we try them in and permanently cement them.

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Discussion of the two options:

We have done both options many times and it seems that when a patient has 4-6 veneers, doing them in the office makes a lot of sense in terms of time and the flexibility of being able to modify the veneers or re-mill if a patient wants to change something from the diagnostic wax-up to the actual veneer.  Patients who have 8+ veneers require much more lab time and for them, it makes sense to come back a different day to have them all cemented.  If your teeth are a difficult shade, it can be easier to do it in our office as we can re-mill a different shade, custom glaze the tooth chairside and have a quick turnaround versus waiting 2 weeks to get a new crown back from the lab.  We are happy to accommodate either option for any amount of veneers and can do more in depth on this at your consultation appointment. 

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