What Are Porcelain Veneers?

Porcelain veneers are thin shells of porcelain that are adhered to the front side of a tooth. Although porcelain is an extremely fragile material and dentists only utilize a very thin layer when creating veneers, the substance, when attached to tooth enamel, becomes highly sturdy. The purpose of adding porcelain to a tooth is to correct the condition of the tooth. For example, a tooth may become chipped. When a dentist applies a porcelain veneer to the tooth it protects the chipped area and the rest of the tooth from further damage.
Porcelain veneers can also be used to improve the look of teeth cosmetically. This procedure is often undertaken for teeth that are yellow. The advantage to adding porcelain to these teeth is that porcelain is extremely hard to stain. If patients have yellow teeth because of habits such as drinking tea or coffee or smoking, they can continue with these habits without having to be concerned that they will provoke their teeth to turn yellow again. 

Previous dental procedures that have since become stained can sometimes be corrected with the addition of porcelain veneers. One example is old fillings. Another is a previous bonding procedure that did not have great success. Veneers may also be good to improve the look of teeth that are discolored naturally. An example of this would be a tooth that has turned black due to some sort of trauma. It can even make it so people can avoid wearing braces to close the spaces between teeth.

In order to attach porcelain veneers to a patient’s teeth, the teeth have to be prepared by the dentist. The first thing the dentist will do is shave the tooth down to about the size the porcelain veneer will be; this ensures that the size of the treated tooth will not be any larger than the rest of the patient’s teeth. The next step is to make a mold for the tooth, which will be used by the technician who creates the porcelain veneer by hand. Making veneers by hand is seen as superior to those that are made by machines, although the machines can make them right away. To send the mold to a lab for hand-crafting may take one or two weeks, but, as was mentioned before, is considered to be the better option.

In the meantime, the shaved tooth may cause the patient some discomfort when eating hot or cold foods. To combat this, a temporary veneer can be placed onto the tooth, but this is not a necessary procedure. Patients can adjust their eating habits to accommodate the fact that their shaved teeth are more sensitive to temperature. Dentists also resist putting on temporary veneers, because they are highly precarious and do not remain in place very well, but if patients really believe they need the temporary veneer, their dentists can arrange to create them for them.

At the patient’s next appointment, the newly made porcelain veneer will be attached to the tooth. From then on, the patient has a new tooth of which to be proud.

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