Dental Veneers Cost And More

Dental veneers are a thin layer of restorative material placed over a tooth specifically for protecting a damaged tooth or for cosmetic reasons. A veneer may be directly placed or built-up in the mouth. In other instances, veneers are fabricated in a dental laboratory and then bonded to the tooth with the aid of resin cement. Generally, two types of material, composite or porcelain, are used to fabricate dental veneers. Porcelain veneers can only be indirectly fabricated.

At the time of its invention, a dental veneer would easily fall off and was primarily used to change an actor’s appearance temporarily. Presently, with improved bonding agents and cements a veneer can last for anything between 10 to 30 years without the risk of falling down. Porcelain veneers are comparatively more durable and more stain resistant than composite veneers. Placing veneers requires minimal tooth preparation such as drilling etc and the procedure can be completed without local anesthesia.

A reduction in tooth size of nearly 0.5mm is required for a porcelain veneer. Some veneers do not require any drilling and the veneer is placed on top of the tooth. Although this is less invasive and less time consuming, the tooth may appear too bulky unless the veneer is extremely thin. While going in for veneers, it is important to consider different aspects of both composite and porcelain veneers. Composite veneers are easy to repair. Porcelain veneers tend to crack or fracture over time. Moreover, matching the shade of a veneer with other teeth is a complex job and it may involve placing several veneers. Cost is a also a major consideration since dental veneers cost anything upwards of $1000 to $2500 per tooth.

Primarily, veneers are laminates or wafer-thin shells of material that is colored to match the rest of teeth. Veneers may be used to cover badly stained teeth, chipped, broken and crooked teeth or to conceal gaps or spaces between teeth. Veneers are not ideal for treating crooked teeth if you want to preserve your natural teeth and braces may the right choice in that case. However, treatment of crooked teeth with braces can take a year or even longer. Veneers are preferred for teeth that are not severely crooked. Dental porcelain veneers are more popular simply because of the durability factor. Composite veneers are cheaper but do not last long.

Porcelain veneers can be as thin as contact lenses. Typically, placing porcelain veneers would require a minimum of two sittings on a dental chair. However, dentists with in-house CAD/CAM (computer aided design/computer aided manufacturing) studio can custom produce a porcelain veneer in six minutes. Teeth’s whitening involves regular visits to a dental professional regularly. Cosmetic dental veneers may be expensive but a fantastic way to revamp your smile for years to come.