If you’re feeling self-conscious about your smile or have dental imperfections that you’d like to correct, porcelain veneers may be the perfect solution. As one of the many cosmetic dentistry services offered here at Cynthia J Mikula, DDS, Inc. in Bay Village, OH, we understand how it can enhance both your appearance and how you feel about yourself. If you’re curious about this treatment, here are some of the many immediate and long-lasting benefits that our porcelain veneers can offer.
The Many Benefits of Porcelain Veneers
Less Invasive Than Other Treatments
Unlike crowns and other tooth restoration treatments, the process of fitting veneers is minimally invasive. Only half a millimeter or less from the surface of each treated tooth typically needs to be removed. Also, it’s only the front part of your tooth that is normally bonded to the veneer, while crowns and other alternative options often require invasive alterations to more than one side of a treated tooth.
A Resilient and Long-Lasting Option
When taken care of properly, porcelain veneers are known for lasting an extensively long time. While a minimum lifespan of 10 years can be expected, it’s not uncommon to see them still holding up strong 20 years after the day of treatment.
Minimal Maintenance is Required
Just because you want the perfect smile doesn’t mean that you should have to work hard at maintaining its appearance every day. With veneers, there’s no extra maintenance to keep them looking good. The same care that you should give your untreated teeth, such as brushing and flossing regularly, should also be given to your treated teeth.
More Effective than Teeth Whitening
If you’ve always wanted whiter teeth, veneers offer a longer-lasting solution than traditional whitening treatments. This is because they have a glazed surface which is less prone to staining than the enamel covering natural teeth. This can save you money and time in the long run because you won’t have to get whitening treatments multiple times a year just to maintain a bright, beautiful smile.
Boost Confidence and Self-Esteem
One of the first things you’ll notice about your veneers, other than how beautiful your smile is, is a positive change in your self-esteem. Having the smile you’ve always wanted and feeling good about your appearance can easily boost your confidence and feelings of self-worth.
A Buffer To Protect Worn-Down Teeth
The enamel that protects your teeth can become worn down from acidic or corrosive foods and aggressive brushing over time, and it never grows back once this happens. Veneers can serve as a replacement for lost enamel, which can add new life to your teeth where they were otherwise in danger of further damage.
Transformative Social Improvements
When you feel more confident about yourself, it can transform your life in many ways. People notice this renewed confidence and often respond positively to it. Having a great smile and feeling good about it can lead to surprising improvements in both your social and business life. In this way, veneers can be looked at as an investment that can lead to greater opportunities and new experiences.
Single-Day Treatment Available
Although the process of having veneers created and fitted often requires multiple office visits, at our practice, it can normally be performed in a single visit. Our in-house E4D system is the latest technology used to both design and creates the most stunning and optimally-fitting veneers possible. After the initial consultation, the entire fabrication and placement process can be completed in just one day.
Adding Volume for a Full Smile
While veneers are normally quite thin for aesthetic purposes, some patients may prefer to have more volume if their natural teeth are smaller or if there are tiny gaps between teeth. If this is the case, we can always make veneers thicker, as they’re custom-made here in our office and based solely on your smile.
Different Styles To Choose From
Veneers are an opportunity to not only correct your smile but also to choose what type of style you prefer. Some patients choose to have more prominent front teeth, while others opt for more noticeable canines. There are also other choices, such as whether you’d rather have a rounded or square-shaped appearance on your teeth. While we can make recommendations and present different options to you, the style is ultimately based on your preferences.
How Do Veneers Work?
Veneers are thin, custom-molded shells made from different materials that are designed to improve a person’s smile when the color, size, length, or shape of existing teeth may be undesirable. Porcelain veneers are created with high-quality ceramic material, which is both durable and long-lasting.
Once your veneers have been designed, matched to your natural tooth color, and fabricated in our office, they can be bonded directly to your teeth in a front-facing fashion after some minor adjustments have been made to the treated teeth.
What Dental Problems Can They Correct?
Porcelain veneers can cosmetically treat many different dental problems where aesthetics and the overall appearance of a person’s smile are concerned. Dental imperfections that are commonly treated this way include:
Crowded Teeth
When your teeth have slight crowding or areas of minor overlapping, porcelain veneers can straighten the appearance of these teeth. While other treatments, such as braces, may be more appropriate for straightening severe cases of crowding, veneers offer a major advantage for more minor cases as they are an instant fix and more comfortable.
Tooth Discolorations
If you’ve already tried multiple whitening sessions for discolored teeth and weren’t pleased with the results, high-quality veneers can instantly remedy this problem. While teeth whitening treatments can be very efficient, there are some cases where severely stained teeth do not respond as well, such as those that have been stained by certain medications. Veneers can provide a youthful, whiter smile in many cases where whitening treatments simply can’t.
Spacing Issues
If your teeth have gaps, veneers are often a viable option to correct this when the spacing between each problematic tooth is not too severe. Whether you have a single gap between your front teeth or multiple gaps between many, veneers can help close these gaps while maintaining the appearance of a natural, gorgeous smile.
Damaged Teeth
Teeth that have minor surface damage to them, such as chipped teeth, can easily have their appearance enhanced with veneers. We often treat patients who have chips to their front teeth from nocturnal bruxism, which is the grinding or clenching of teeth while sleeping. Once the treatment is completed and our patients are pleased with their new smile, treatments to correct the issue of bruxism is normally recommended to protect the veneers.
Porcelain vs. Composite Veneers
When it comes to veneers, the two most popular materials used to make them are porcelain and composite material. While either can be suitable, depending on your needs, the porcelain type is generally considered to be superior and offers more advantages for the following reasons:
Porcelain Is Stronger
Ceramic porcelain material is simply more durable than composite material and therefore lasts for a considerably longer amount of time. While composite veneers themselves last a long time, normally around 5 to 7 years, porcelain veneers typically last between 10 to 20 years.
More Aesthetic Details
Composite veneers are very natural looking because different shades of color composite material can be mixed to match your natural teeth color. However, porcelain veneers are specifically designed to mimic your real teeth and have a translucent characteristic that composite material doesn’t. Even upon close inspection under bright light, this translucent appearance is very difficult to distinguish from regular teeth.
Greater Stain Resistance
While both composite and porcelain materials don’t stain as easily as your normal tooth enamel does, porcelain is still superior to composite in this regard. Because composite material is porous, it can become discolored more easily than porcelain, which is much less porous and therefore less susceptible to staining.
Enhanced Restoration
Porcelain also has an advantage over composite material when it comes to correcting certain types of dental problems, such as severely crooked teeth. This is because the shells that are created with it can cover much more area due to its durability. So those who need to correct major appearance flaws will normally benefit the most when opting for the porcelain type.
Schedule for Your Better Smile Today
We have the experience and skills, as well as the latest technology to ensure that you receive top care and aesthetically-pleasing porcelain veneers that perfectly match your surrounding natural teeth. Call us today at Cynthia J Mikula, DDS, Inc. in Bay Village, OH to schedule a consultation or appointment, and get ready to smile more!
