Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About Getting Veneers
Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy a perfect smile. For pearly white, straight, even-looking teeth, it doesn’t get any better than veneers. Since it’s a costly and semi-permanent solution, it pays to do your research. We turned to NYC Smile Design cosmetic dentists Dr. Elisa Mello and Dr. Ramin Tabib to give their best tips.
Veneers are thin layers of porcelain applied to the tooth (“similar to adding a fake nail to your own,” Tabib explains). The veneers are customized based on a patient’s face shape, desired look, and the state of their teeth when they come in for a consultation. “You can do a lot with it. You can change the shape of the tooth, you can make it bigger, you can make a tooth a bit smaller, change the color permanently,” Tabib says. A “small” makeover requires eight to 10 veneers.
Before you get veneers, you need to ask yourself why you want them. Whether it’s crowding or spacing, there’s a solution for everything—and sometimes the answer isn’t a full set of veneers at all. “Patients come to us saying they want veneers and I say, ‘Ok, is it veneers or is it a combination?’ Because sometimes it’s not just veneers to achieve they goal, they may have a cap in front of their one tooth,” Tabib says.
Mello adds, “Sometimes patients think they want veneers but what they need are orthodontics. Their teeth are actually pretty, but they’re so crooked they don’t realize it. The right treatment is to straighten and maybe bleach them.” She continues, “If you’re a candidate for other solutions then we want to consider them as well.”
Mello suggests having your teeth not only cleaned before getting veneers, but whitening them so you can see how light your teeth can get. Then, the porcelain color will match that hue. There are a couple of appointments involved—Tabib says he creates a 3D model of the final look to duplicate that on the mouth. Before the actual appointment to apply veneers, the patient wears it temporarily to test drive the look and make sure they like the color, shape, and aesthetics. Be prepared to feel like it looks a little off at first.
“Patients a lot of times reject it initially as soon as they see it because it’s such a drastic departure from what they’re used to seeing everyday. It doesn’t matter if it looks better,” Tabib warns, “Once they come back in a couple days they get used to the new look.” After these temporary veneers, patients go through color assesments and come back two to three weeks later to get the final veneers bonded. The whole process from that first consultation to your new smile takes at least a month.
As for cost, Tabib says, "It can be $1000 or less on the low end and up to $4000 on the high end. Depends where in the country." Seeing as it's an appearance-altering change you live with everyday, it may be well worth it.
Tabib says he administers novacaine to numb the teeth and make the process as comfortable as possible. Then, the teeth is prepared and the porcelain veneers are individually bonded to the teeth (Tabib likens it to the way metal brackets of braces are put on). “The bonding process chemically adheres and mechanically adheres the porcelain. It’s an extremely strong glue that makes the porcelain and tooth act as “one,” he says.
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10 to 15 years is the average—Tabib and Mello say they have patients with veneers that still look fresh for longer than that. Patients often come back after 10 or so years to adjust their veneers for brightness—but it totally depends on individual goals. “Sometimes they just want to jazz it up a little bit or feel like they can have better veneers now because technology is better,” Mello says, “Or maybe they’re going through a new life and just want to change things up.”
“I generally tell patients that if there’s anything that can break your own tooth, it can break the veneer too,” Tabib says, “You don’t want to change your lifestyle because you have veneers but you do want to exercise caution.” The dentist also suggests using a guard or clear liner of the teeth at night to protect them from clenching, grinding, etc. Additionally, you should brush your teeth regularly but choose a paste that isn’t too abrasive.
“I wish patients didn’t think of veneers as a product,” Tabib laments. “They think they’re getting or buying a certain product. It’s not. Everything about it is meticulous. I wish patients would be a little more educated in that, and not be so swayed by companies pushing certain brands—if it sounds too good to be true, it really is.”
