Dental Veneers

First of all, few people “need” porcelain veneers. This is something that people typically “want”. Science has proven that your smile is one of the first and most important aspects of your appearance, as well as how you come across to others. Socially or professionally, a smile that is less than what it could be can leave a negative impression on the people around you.

We use a shade chart to match the color of your porcelain veneers to the color of your adjacent natural teeth. Before we select that color to match, we usually like to have your teeth whitened to return them to their natural whiteness without stains. From that point forward, that will be the barometer of your tooth color.

Your new porcelain veneers will match that natural white color, and they will not stain. However, your natural teeth will stain, especially if you drink coffee or red wine, and eat certain foods. If your color becomes variable between your teeth with veneers and your other teeth, you can have whitening done on your non-veneered teeth to bring them back to match your brighter veneers.

Porcelain veneers are highly resistant to staining, so they will maintain their white appearance for the long haul.

You can eat whatever you want with dental veneers. You should exercise some reticence when it comes to chewing bones, biting into caramel apples, and chewing ice, however, as these kinds of activities can loosen a veneer. Still, you don’t have to avoid these few foods, but it’s not a bad idea.

Teeth grinding wears down your natural teeth, and it can damage your veneers as well. The pressure created when you grind your teeth can crack veneers and it can cause them to come loose from the tooth or teeth they are applied onto. If you show signs of nightly bruxism, Dr. Winters will use his training and expertise with temporomandibular joint disorder to address your grinding. This may include the creation of night mouth guards, which you wear while you sleep to protect your teeth. A night guard would also protect your veneers.

Removing a small amount of the tooth enamel from the teeth receiving veneers does make them more sensitive to hot and cold initially. But this sensitivity usually passes in a few days and the teeth feel normal again.

Dental veneers, when done properly, can last 25 plus years. Unfortunately, I have redone cases that have failed for one reason or another in as few as 3 years. The determining factor is typically related to the dentists training and experience. Be sure you feel confident with your provider. Ask to see pictures of cases they have done and ask how long have they been doing this procedure.

Dr. Winters has taught hundreds of dentists over the last 21 years as a clinical instructor at the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies. With the number of cases he has done in his private practice combined with the ones he has helped other dentists do at the Institute, you will not find another dentist with more qualifications and experience than Dr. Winters.

Porcelain Veneers are a great option for changing the aesthetic appearance of a tooth or all of your visible teeth, but they do have a lifespan of typically 15-20 years. If you only have a single tooth or a couple teeth that are misshapen, badly stained, or have other issues with their appearance, you could opt to have Dr. Winters place crowns on those teeth instead of porcelain veneers. Crowns cover the entire tooth down to the gum line, so they can completely change a tooth’s appearance. But crowns are only realistic to place on one or two teeth at most.

Another alternative to placing veneers is to have Dr. Winters use dental bonding to improve your teeth’s aesthetic issues. Like veneers, bonding only makes aesthetic changes to imperfections with a tooth. Dr. Winters applies the composite resin to the tooth and sculpts it to make its appearance perfect. Bonding is a great alternative to veneers, and it is less expensive, but bonding doesn’t hold up as long. Bonding usually needs to be replaced with new resin every 5-7 years.

The cost of porcelain veneers varies by location across the country and also by the skill of the doctor. The range can be anywhere from $600 or 700 at a chain type of office to as much as $4000 per tooth in New York or Los Angeles. The fee in our office is typically between $1650 to $1800 per tooth. You can certainly get it cheaper somewhere else, but you can’t get it better.

Dental veneers are classified as a “cosmetic/aesthetic” procedure, so they are not covered by dental insurance.

As mentioned above, porcelain veneers are only cosmetic treatments. They do not address any issues with the overall health of the tooth; they simply overlay the front, visible surface and improve the appearance. Veneers don’t protect the tooth from decay at all. Most cavities form in the molars, however, and they don’t receive veneers because they are not visible teeth.  

Porcelain veneers can’t make your breath or mouth smell. They are made from dental porcelain, and they cannot decay. If your breath has gone south, it’s likely that your oral hygiene is lacking. If plaque and food particles are left around the edges of your veneers (remember, they only cover the front side of the tooth), that will begin the process of decay, and that will make your breath smell bad. But it’s not the veneers at fault; it’s your lack of attentive oral hygiene. Step up your twice-daily brushing for two minutes and flossing once and you should reverse the bad breath if decay hasn’t yet taken hold.

Or, you may have had veneers placed elsewhere and the fit was not precise. When that happens, there can be gaps between the veneers and the surfaces of the natural teeth. That allows bacteria to work its way in there and it will begin to emit sulfur odors when the bacteria break down the sugars left in your mouth. This will also likely lead to decay.