How Veneers Can Transform Your Smile

Perfect smiles rarely happen naturally. Most people have at least one or two flaws they’d love to correct.

But for most of us, the thought of extensive dental work keeps us from fixing those problems — and prevents us from having the beautiful smile we really want.

With dental veneers, you can fix your smile problems in just a couple of office visits and without complicated (and costly) procedures. Beloved by celebrities worldwide, dental veneers can transform your smile, cosmetically correcting a myriad of problems so your smile looks flawless.

At Dr. Taylor’s Family Dental Center in Waterford, Michigan, our skilled dentist Marvin Taylor, DDS, offers both porcelain veneers and super-thin Lumineers® so every patient can enjoy the results they’re looking for. Here’s how veneers work — and how they can help you get the beautiful smile you’ve always wanted.

Veneers 101

Veneers are super-thin, tooth-colored coverings that attach to the front surface of your teeth. They’re used on your visible teeth — the teeth that show when you smile. Because of their design, they can be used to correct a wide array of smile flaws.

We offer two types of veneers: durable porcelain veneers and translucent Lumineers. Both types of veneers can be used to cosmetically correct issues like:

Gaps between teeth
Deep stains
Chipped or cracked teeth
Crooked or misaligned teeth
Teeth that look too small or too short
Oddly shaped teeth

You can have a veneer applied to one tooth or several teeth, depending on the issues you want to correct and the results you want to achieve.

Preparing for veneers

Even though porcelain veneers are very thin, they still have a thickness that needs to be accounted for once they’re applied to your teeth.

To help the veneer rest flush with the surfaces of your other teeth, the tooth receiving the veneer must be reshaped.

To do that, we remove a very small amount of the tooth’s enamel. That way, when the veneer is applied, the surface lines up with the teeth on either side of it.

What to expect when getting veneers

At your first office visit, we prepare the tooth surface and take an impression or mold of the tooth. The impression is sent to a lab where the veneer is made. We select the right shade for your veneer so it blends in naturally with your other teeth.

At the end of your first visit, we apply a temporary veneer to protect your tooth until the final veneer is ready.

At the next visit, we remove the temporary veneer and affix the permanent veneer using a strong adhesive. We gently buff and shape the veneer so it fits perfectly.

Lumineers

With Lumineers, the process is a bit different. Because Lumineers are so thin, they don’t require extensive preparation of the tooth before applying the veneer.

We take impressions of your teeth and send them to a lab that specializes in the patented Lumineer process. In 2-4 weeks, you’ll return to the office to have your Lumineers applied.

Lumineers are more translucent than regular porcelain veneers, and many patients find they look more like natural tooth material once applied. However, the extra-thin design means they’re not ideal for teeth that are deeply stained since those stains can show through the Lumineer material.