Dental veneers: maintenance, price, procedure

A dental veneer is a type of porcelain or ceramic shell that is bonded to the front of the tooth for aesthetic reasons. It allows you to rectify your smile if you have a chipped or broken tooth, it protects it if your natural enamel is of poor quality and has eroded, or simply if you have stained teeth.

Dental veneers provide excellent aesthetic results and are easy to apply. Let's see in which cases the dental veneer is recommended and how it is applied. Nutrident looks at the subject.

What are dental veneers?

The dental veneer is a small shell, made of ceramic or composite material. It is only used for the front teeth, incisors and canines, since its purpose is aesthetic. It can sometimes be placed on the premolars, but never on the molars, which cannot be seen when you speak or laugh.

The veneer has an aesthetic purpose, but it is also protective. It is used in different cases: it camouflages the defects of the tooth if it is stained or chipped, or if you have yellow or gray teeth. The natural tooth does not have to be devitalized when a veneer is placed, allowing you to keep your teeth healthy.

Another advantage of dental veneers is that you can choose the exact color. If you only have one tooth to cover up, for whatever reason, the dentist will choose the veneer color that matches the neighboring teeth and the result will look totally natural.

Camouflaging a damaged tooth

Dental veneers can save you from having to put in a much more expensive dental crown. If you broke a tooth, but it could be preserved without being devitalized, using a dental veneer is the least expensive and most discreet solution.

Grind your smile

If your teeth are misaligned or overlapping, dental veneers can change the appearance of the distribution of your teeth, without the need for time-consuming, costly and unattractive orthodontics.

You will be able to rectify the gaps between your teeth and harmonize your dentition.

Tooth staining problems

If you have a problem with the staining of your perfectly healthy teeth, you can resort to dental veneers that will mask this yellow or gray color. Tooth color is not a dental hygiene problem, you may have inherited colored teeth, or they may not stand up to aging.

Some medications, especially antibiotics, can also change the color of your teeth, especially when taken at a young age, when permanent teeth are forming.

If your teeth are too stained, even in-office whitening will not restore them to their pristine whiteness. The veneer is perfectly suited to this case.

Replacing a defective enamel

If you have poor quality enamel, it will wear out prematurely and your tooth will become extremely sensitive. The slightest cold draft becomes painful and eating becomes a real ordeal. In this case, the dental veneer allows you to protect your tooth, to find your smile in summer and winter and to eat what you want without suffering.

Dental anomalies

Dental veneers also allow you to hide dental anomalies that you can't do anything about.

It is about the anomalies of forms if you are victim of the dwarfism of the tooth, the central incisors in screwdriver, the lateral incisors in grain of rice…

Your teeth may also have structural abnormalities. Dental dysplasia, for example, results in the alteration of the development of the structure and color of the teeth.

The limits of the dental veneer

As we have just seen, dental veneers can alleviate a large number of problems, but they do have their limitations.

If your teeth are too damaged, the veneer will not be enough. If the decay has become too extensive or the arrangement of the teeth is too disrupted with large gaps, other solutions should be considered.

The same applies if you have mechanical problems such as an imperfect bite, a tooth that is too thin or too damaged.

Dental veneers can do nothing against periodontal disease. If you have a problem with defective enamel, veneers can protect the tooth, but if you have no enamel at all, a crown may be the only solution.

Finally, if you have a problem with stained teeth due to poor oral hygiene, the veneer will not change anything, because it will stain, too.

Ceramic veneer or composite material?

The dental veneer can be made of ceramic or composite material. You can choose the color of both types of dental veneers.

The ceramic dental veneer

Ceramic veneers are the most expensive, but also the most durable and the most aesthetic. It is not malleable like the composite veneer, but it fits very well to the teeth and the illusion of a real tooth is perfect.

The ceramic veneer can last for decades.

Dental veneer made of composite material

The composite material is a very malleable paste that adheres very easily to the tooth. The advantage of being able to be shaped allows the dentist to give it the exact shape he wants, in order to adapt to the tooth it covers, but also to adjacent teeth.

Once applied to the tooth, the dentist subjects it to a halogen lamp for a few seconds to set the glue. It is then polished.

The composite veneer lasts from five to ten years.

The facets of Hollywood stars

Hollywood stars always have bright, flawless smiles. Many of them use veneers from the American brand Lumineers. Extremely fine, they are said to be pellicular. In fact, their thickness does not exceed three tenths of a millimeter, which is comparable to the thickness of contact lenses.

They are made of ceramic and are placed without altering the teeth. Since the teeth have not been cut, you do not risk any pain and do not need a local anesthetic.

Since they do not require any preparation, only one appointment is needed to take the impressions and the fitting is done during the second appointment.

Of excellent quality, they can last more than twenty years. Even though the classic veneer is not annoying – it only takes a few days to get used to it – the Lumineers veneer is not felt at all, thanks to its great finesse.

Finally, the installation of a classic veneer is irreversible, because your dentist has cut the tooth. You are obliged to wear a veneer for life. If it needs to be changed, the tooth will still need to be trimmed a bit. This is not the case with the Lumineers veneer which can be removed at any time and replaced.

Since the invention of Lumineers film dental veneers, other brands have designed similar products. Ask your dentist to make a comparison based on the latest developments.

How is a dental veneer applied?

Impressioning and preparation

At your first appointment, the dentist will take x-rays and impressions of your teeth. He makes a plaster cast of your mouth which serves as a model to shape your future dental veneer.

From this cast, he makes a gutter in order to design a mask during the second appointment. This consists of filling the tray with resin and placing it in the mouth. The resin forms a kind of mask covering the teeth when the tray is removed.

This is the time to refine the casts and decide on the color of the veneer. It then goes into production.

Preparation of the tooth

The dentist must prepare the tooth on which the veneer will be glued. He will trim it if necessary and work on the enamel so that the glue can adhere perfectly.

The preparation of the tooth is done under local anesthesia, as it can be a bit painful.

The installation of the veneer

The dentist can go through the process of placing temporary veneers, or place the permanent ones directly.

He brushes the back side with glue, passes a specific product on the tooth and places the veneer. The glue is hardened, thanks to a halogen lamp, in a few seconds.

It is exceptional that the placement of veneers is not successful. You will find your most beautiful smile immediately after the installation which is not painful.

Be careful if you are prone to bruxism and grind your teeth at night. By rubbing your two jaws together, you risk prematurely altering your beautiful facet. Talk to your dentist beforehand and he will have rubber aligners made for you to wear at night.

How much does a dental veneer cost?

The price of a dental veneer fluctuates according to the material used. The composite veneer costs between 170 and 350 €, while the price of the ceramic veneer is between 500 and 1000 €.

Lumineers can often exceed 1000 €. However, ask your dentist for a market study comparing with the brand's competitors who are also developing film-based dental veneers.

In any case, your dentist will give you an estimate. He will take into account the number of veneers and the specificities of your teeth.

Considered as a cosmetic operation, the Social Security does not reimburse at all the manufacturing and the installation of dental veneers. Even if you have a medical problem, such as enamel loss, that requires surgery because your teeth are painful and weakened, you cannot expect any financial compensation.

Some people go abroad for treatment where prices are lower. Countries in Eastern Europe, North Africa or Southeast Asia can offer interesting packages. However, think about the cost of transportation and accommodation.

And above all, don't choose just any place, because you can take big risks. You will not necessarily have the necessary guarantees and, in case of failure, you are without a net. Instead of getting a good deal, you may end up with irreparably damaged teeth and much higher unexpected costs than if you had stayed with your French dentist.

Maintenance of dental veneers

When veneers are placed, the appearance of the gums is slightly altered because they are pushed back a little to allow the dentist to work. In a few days, they regain their natural shape and appearance.

You must take care of your dental veneers as well as your other teeth. Brushing will be done as usual and there is no reason why you can't use floss, interdental brushes and the pulsed water jet.

If the veneer protects the front part of the tooth, the back part must be brushed thoroughly. On the other hand, bacteria can attack your teeth by burrowing between the veneer and the tooth.

You should therefore brush your teeth after each meal, using a soft bristle brush that will not damage your veneer.

If you want to keep your beautiful teeth white, but are fond of tea and/or coffee, you can drink through a straw to avoid contact with your teeth. Don't buy a disposable straw, whatever the material, you can choose a hard plastic straw that is reusable at will. Just run it under water or put it in the dishwasher from time to time.

In any case, brush your teeth if you can after drinking tea and coffee. Have one or two scaling sessions per year at the dentist. Plaque, once transformed into tartar and fixed on the teeth, cannot be eliminated at home, it must go through the dentist.

The more you maintain your dental veneers, the longer they will stay white and last. So take good care of it and you'll keep your best smile!