The Amazing Versatility of Dental Veneers

Wouldn’t you love a picture-perfect smile? Of course! We all would. But unfortunately, Mother Nature often has other plans, and few of us wind up with a smile that’s naturally flawless.

Or maybe your teeth always looked great — until recently. Now, deep stains, chips, cracks, and other imperfections have taken their toll, leaving you feeling less attractive and less confident.

Worse: A flawed smile doesn’t just make you feel less attractive — there’s a good chance other people don’t find that smile as attractive, either.

Fortunately, state-of-the-art dental veneers from Dr. Taylor’s Family Dental Center could be the solution to your smile woes. As a leading cosmetic dentist in Waterford, Michigan, Dr. Marvin Taylor is skilled in custom veneer treatments to help every patient get the smile they’ve been dreaming of in just a couple of visits. Here’s how veneers could help you.

How veneers work

Veneers are flawless covers for your teeth, applied to the tooth surface using a very strong adhesive. Each veneer is made of durable porcelain, expertly shaped to fit your tooth and blend in with the rest of your smile.

We offer both traditional porcelain veneers and super-thin, translucent Lumineers®. Both types of veneers are applied in a similar way, and both are super strong, lasting for many years with proper care. The primary differences are their thickness and how they’re applied.

Porcelain veneers

Porcelain veneers are the go-to standard for most people who want to improve the aesthetics of their smiles. Even though they’re very thin, they still take up room on your tooth surface. Before applying your veneer, we remove some of the tooth surface to make room for it.

Then, we make an impression of your teeth and send it to the lab where your veneer is made. In about two to four weeks, your veneer will be ready to be applied — a process that takes less than an hour.

Once your veneer is in place, you care for it just like you care for your other teeth, with regular brushing, flossing, and routine dental cleanings to keep it looking flawless.

Lumineers

Lumineers are even thinner than traditional veneers, and their translucence makes them pretty much identical to the appearance of your tooth’s natural surface.

Because they’re so thin, they don’t require as much preparation as a traditional veneer, preserving your tooth surface. We still make an impression and send it to a lab. And as with traditional veneers, it takes about two to four weeks before the Lumineer is ready to be applied.

Lumineers have the advantage of being reversible, so if you decide you don’t want them anymore they can be removed. However, because they’re so thin and translucent, Lumineers probably aren’t the best choice if your tooth is deeply stained.

Veneers: The “v” is for versatile

OK, not really — but maybe it should be. Veneers are one of the most versatile cosmetic treatments available because they’re so good at addressing so many different kinds of smile flaws. They’re also very popular, ranking as one of the most-requested cosmetic dentistry procedures, according to the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry.

Today’s veneers can be custom tinted and shaped so they blend beautifully with your surrounding teeth. That makes them ideal for cosmetically correcting problems like: