Veneers or Dentures? Which Is Best for Me and My Smile?

Who has a naturally perfect smile? Pretty much no one. Thankfully, there are plenty of options that can help our smiles look their best while improving our oral health at the same time.

Patients at Dr. Taylor’s Family Dental Center in Waterford, Michigan, have lots of options to restore their smiles and their confidence, including veneers and dentures. Drawing on his significant experience as a cosmetic dentist, Marvin Taylor, DDS, helps patients make the right choices to meet their goals. Here’s what he wants you to know about these two similar but very different kinds of restorations.

Veneers vs. dentures

There are lots of differences between veneers and dentures. While both are widely used to improve your smile aesthetics and oral health, they have vastly different applications.

Veneers

Veneers are thin, tooth-colored “covers” that are adhered to the front surfaces of your teeth. Typically, veneers are used only on the teeth that are visible when you smile, not on molars located farther back in your mouth.

Veneers are used to correct an array of issues that can affect the way your smile looks, including:

• Gaps between your teeth
• Teeth that are unevenly spaced
• Cracked teeth
• Chipped teeth
• Deeply discolored teeth
• Teeth that appear too small
• “Gummy” smiles
• Crooked or “sideways” teeth

The primary function of a veneer is to provide a cosmetic improvement for your smile, restoring your teeth so your smile looks healthy, beautiful, and confident.

The veneer procedure usually requires two visits. During the first visit, the tooth is shaped and prepared for the veneer. Dr. Taylor applies a temporary veneer to protect the tooth while the permanent restoration is being made. At the second visit, the temporary veneer is replaced by the permanent veneer, which is polished for a perfect result.

Dentures

While a veneer is applied to an existing tooth, a denture is used to replace one or more missing teeth. Today’s dentures are a lot different from the dentures your parents or grandparents had, made of lighter materials that look and feel more natural.

There are several types of dentures:

• A full denture replaces all of the upper or lower teeth
• A partial denture replaces one or several teeth
• Fixed dentures are attached to implant posts 
• Removable dentures can be popped out when needed

Dr. Taylor will be able to determine which options work best for your needs.

Dentures also require more than one visit. During the first visit, Dr. Taylor takes an impression of your mouth. The impression is sent to a lab that makes dentures, where it acts like a mold or model for your restoration. At the second visit, he’ll adjust the fit of your new denture for a comfortable, secure fit.

Dentures don’t just restore the way your smile looks — they also restore your bite balance, so you can chew and talk normally and avoid other problems, like chronic jaw pain or headaches. About 120 million Americans are missing at least one tooth, and dentures remain a very popular option for replacing them.

State-of-the-art restorations

Both dentures and veneers can improve your smile aesthetics, as well as your confidence. In addition to having different applications, one of the primary differences to remember is that veneers improve the way an existing tooth looks, while dentures replace teeth that are no longer there.

Both restorations can help you feel more confident about your smile, and both are durable, natural-looking, and easy to care for. To learn more about dentures, veneers, and other beautiful restorations we offer at Dr. Taylor’s Family Dental Center, call 248-681-8100 or request an appointment online at our Waterford, Michigan, practice today.