Why You Should Visit a Cosmetic Dentist for Dental Veneers

As a cosmetic dentist, we can improve the appearance of your smile using dental veneers.  A veneer is a thin shell that is made of either ceramic or porcelain.  It looks like natural enamel – only without any imperfections. It is important to understand the entire process of dental veneers prior to deciding if they are right for you.

Understanding the dental veneers process

To create the veneers, we will first take measurements of the patient's teeth and make an impression of their mouth.  Next, we will use a shade card to determine the exact shade that the veneers need to be in order to match the surrounding teeth. Creating veneers in the right size and shape is critical to ensuring the smile looks natural afterward.

Thus, it is important to visit a cosmetic dentist with experience in placing dental veneers. Before we can place the veneers, we will have to prepare the patient's teeth by removing a portion of the enamel from them.  This is essential for ensuring that the veneers will lay flat once in place.  We typically do this in advance of creating the veneers.

A durable and long-lasting solution

To protect the teeth, we will then secure temporary veneers to hold the place of the permanent ones. The patient will be able to eat, speak and smile with them, but since they will come off, the patient needs to avoid biting directly into anything and try to stick with soft foods until returning for the final appointment.

Once the final veneers are ready, the patient will return to remove the temporaries and bond the permanent ones in place using dental cement. Once complete, the veneers will be durable and secure, allowing the patient to eat all of his or her favorite foods. Taking care of the veneers is also easy because the patient simply needs to brush and floss like normal. There are no additional steps required and they are long-lasting.

What dental veneers can accomplish

As a cosmetic dentist, we can use veneers to solve a variety of aesthetic challenges including:

Closing gaps

People with gaps between their teeth may consider wearing braces to fix those gaps. While orthodontics is effective for straightening teeth and closing gaps, it can take months or years to complete the process.  If there are only small gaps between the teeth, wearing braces may not make sense. In this case, we can place veneers on the teeth to close the gaps in less than a month.

Covering stains

We can cover the stains of discolored teeth with the use of dental veneers. Dental veneers will restore the youthful appearance of one's smile. While teeth whitening also works well for this, many of our patients prefer how veneers are stain resistant and able to keep their teeth white for a longer period of time.

Fixing misshapen teeth

It is common to have teeth of different sizes.  In this case, we can remove a small portion of the enamel to change the size of the tooth or we can cover the teeth with veneers to create a uniform smile.

Call us today

To learn more about the solutions that Dental Health Associates, PC offers or to begin improving your smile, call our Portland cosmetic dentist office today at (503) 862-3270.