What Are Veneers?
Dental veneers are thin, tooth-colored shells that are attached to the front surface of teeth to improve their appearance. They’re often made from porcelain or resin-composite materials and are permanently bonded to your teeth.
Veneers can be used to treat a number of different cosmetic concerns, including chipped, broken, discolored, or smaller-than-average teeth.
Some people may only get one veneer in the case of a broken or chipped tooth, but many get between six to eight veneers in order to create an even, symmetrical smile. The top front eight teeth are the most commonly applied veneers.
What Are The Different Types Of Veneers?
Dental veneers are most commonly made out of porcelain. Applying traditional dental veneers requires more intensive prep work compared to alternatives that are sometimes called “no-prep veneers.” These no-prep veneers — which include options like Lumineers and Vivaneeres — take less time and are less invasive to apply.
Applying traditional dental veneers typically involves grinding down the tooth structure, sometimes removing some of the tooth even past the enamel. This allows for proper placement, but it’s also an irreversible procedure that can be painful to go through and often requires a local anesthetic.
No-prep veneers, on the other hand, may require some tooth preparation or alteration, but these alterations are minimal. Instead of removing layers of tooth under the enamel, no-prep veneers only affect the enamel. In many cases, no-prep veneers don’t require local anesthetics.
Veneers aren’t the same as tooth implants or crowns. Veneers cover the front surface of the tooth. Implants, on the other hand, replace the entire tooth. Crowns also encase the entire tooth, while veneers only cover the front surface of the tooth (which is visible with a smile).
How Much Do Veneers Cost?
Veneers aren’t often covered by insurance, as they’re considered a cosmetic procedure. According to the Consumer Guide to Dentistry, traditional veneers can cost an average of $925 to $2,500 per tooth and can last 10 to 15 years. No-prep veneers cost around $800 to $2000 per tooth and last between 5 to 7 years. In the long-term, traditional veneers are often the most cost-effective option.
The cost of your veneers depends on factors like what type of veneers you’re choosing, what brand name your dentist has available, your area’s cost of living, and the expertise of the dentist.https://dab2b717660589329ad20e8b07af35be.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
What Are The Benefits Of Dental Veneers?
The biggest benefit to veneers is improving the appearance of your teeth, giving you a brighter and more even smile. Dental veneers are often used to treat the following cosmetic occurrences:
- broken or chipped teeth
- severe discoloration or uneven coloring that can’t be fixed with whitening
- gaps in the teeth
- smaller-than-average teeth
- pointed or unusually shaped teeth
Veneers can last for more than a decade, depending on the type of veneer you choose, making them a semipermanent investment that can make you more confident in your smile.
How To Prepare For Your Appointment
Before you get your veneers, you’ll have a preliminary appointment with your dentist to discuss which options are right for you and how many veneers you want to have placed. In some cases, if teeth are crooked or uneven, you may need to have braces before your dentist can place the veneers.
Your dentist will often take X-rays at this stage to evaluate your teeth’s health. They’ll look for signs of tooth decay, gum disease, or the need for root canals. If you have any of these conditions, you may not be a candidate for veneers.
To get accurate sizing for your veneers, at the next appointment, your dentist trims down about a half a millimeter of your tooth (they remove the enamel using a grinding tool) before they take a mold (impression) of your teeth. This mold is then sent off to the lab for the creation of your veneers.
How Are Veneers Put On Teeth?
It typically takes between one and two weeks after your dentist creates your mold to get your veneers back from the lab.
Once your veneers are in, you can schedule an appointment to have them placed. At this appointment, your dentist evaluates the fit, shape, and coloration of the veneers to make sure they’re perfect for you.
Next, your dentist thoroughly cleans your teeth. This is important, as it keeps bacteria from being trapped under the veneer and causing decay. After they do this, they use the grinding tool to create a rougher texture on each tooth on which a veneer is to be applied. This makes it easier for the veneer to stick to the tooth.
Your dentist then uses dental cement to bind the veneer to the tooth. They’ll use ultraviolet light to harden this cement quickly, and once you leave the office, your new smile is ready to go!
This second appointment (where veneers are placed) typically doesn’t last longer than two hours, though it might be an extra thirty minutes if a local anesthetic is used.https://dab2b717660589329ad20e8b07af35be.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
How To Take Care Of Your Veneers After They’re Placed
Unlike other dental procedures, the recovery process doesn’t take an extended amount of time. Instead, once the veneers are cemented on and any anesthetics wear off, you can eat and chew as you normally would. While the anesthetic is wearing off, be conscious of not chewing on your cheeks or tongue.
In some cases, immediately after the veneers are applied, you may notice that they feel a little rough. These rough spots (usually from extra cement that can adhere to the veneer) wear down after several days of normal eating and teeth brushing; if they don’t, your dentist can smooth them out.
Traditional porcelain veneers typically last between 10 and 15 years, and no-prep veneers last around 5 to 7 years. Taking certain precautions can help make sure that you get the longest lifespan out of the possible. These precautions include:
- Don’t chew on hard objects like pens, ice, or your fingernails.
- Never use your teeth to open packaging or condiment packages.
- Try not to chew with your front teeth. Eat harder foods with your back teeth only; cut up hard foods like chocolate bars so that this is possible.
- If you grind or clench your teeth at night, get a splint or retainer to protect your veneers.
- If playing sports, you must wear a mouthguard.
Sealants
Since the main objective of a sealant is to seal assemblies and joints, sealants need to have sufficient adhesion to the substrates and resistance to environmental conditions to remain bonded over the required life of the assembly. When sealants are used between substrates having different thermal coefficients of expansion or differing elongation under stress, they need to have adequate flexibility and elongation. Sealants generally contain inert filler material and are usually formulated with an elastomer to give the required flexibility and elongation. They usually have a paste consistency to allow filling of gaps between substrates. Low shrinkage after application is often required. Many adhesive technologies can be formulated into sealants.
Sealants fall between higher-strength adhesives at one end and extremely low-strength putties and caulks at the other. Putties and caulks serve only one function – i.e., to take up space and fill voids. Sealants, on the other hand, despite not having great strength, do convey a number of properties. They seal the substrate at the glue line; they are particularly effective in keeping moisture in or out of the components in which they are used. They provide thermal and acoustical insulation and may serve as fire barriers; sometimes they contain electrical properties. They may also be used for smoothing or filleting. In short, sealants are often called upon to perform several of these functions at once.
No matter what the application, a sealant has three basic functions.
- It fills a gap between two or more substrates.
- It forms a barrier through the physical properties of the sealant itself and by adhesion to the substrate.
- It maintains sealing properties for the expected lifetime, service conditions and environments.
The sealant performs these functions by way of correct formulation to achieve specific application and performance properties. Unlike adhesives, however, there are not many functional alternatives to the sealing process. Soldering or welding can perhaps be used as a sealant in certain instances, depending on the substrates and the relative movement that the substrates will see in service. However, the simplicity and reliability offered by organic elastomers usually make them the clear choice for performing these functions.
One- and Two-Component Sealants, Sealant Tapes
Sealants are commonly classified is by their physical form. The three major classes are:
1. One-component sealants: Packaged in a cartridge. No special equipment is required to apply one-component sealants; chemical technologies include acrylic solvent-based, butyl solvent-based, latex water-based, silicone and urethane;
2. Two-component sealants: Composed of two parts — a base component and an activator component. The activator is typically added to the base component and mixed for a set period of time before application. Two-components require bulk guns and mixing equipment to prepare and apply the sealant, and are typically packaged in separate buckets; chemical technologies include epoxy-penetrating solvent-based (supplied as two-comopnent high-solid compounds), silicone, and urethane;
3. Sealant tapes: Similar to their PSA Tape “cousins”, sealant tapes are supplied as sealant on a flexible backing; types include butyl and silicone tapes (both preformed shape) and urethane tape (supplied in a compressed state).