Advantages & Disadvantages of Veneers
It’s no secret that having porcelain or lumineer veneers applied makes your smile look beautiful, even and bright, closing gaps, covering chips, disguising discolouration and providing a more symmetrical look. However, it’s important to explore the positive and negative elements of these particular procedure to decide whether they’re the best option for you.
Advantages of veneers:
Porcelain veneers are common in creating new smiles and smile makeovers. With porcelain veneers, you can have the smile of your dreams in a very short period of time. Typically veneers are difficult to stain, making veneers a very popular solution for many people seeking that perfect smile. Strong and very durable, veneers last from ten to fifteen years, and come in colours that will brighten dark teeth without the worry of them changing colour. Veneers are typically done in only two one and a half hour long appointments, and can actually strengthen your tooth.There is no additional maintenance, other than a follow-up visit to your cosmetic dentist and proper brushing and flossing on a daily basis.
Finally, a whiter smile gives people to whom you are speaking a place to focus on and gives you a friendlier appearance.
Disadvantages of veneers:
It takes roughly a week or two of a period of adjustment to get used to your teeth that have been changed in colour, size, spacing and shape. While very little tooth is removed in most cases, there are situations where more tooth must be removed which increases the risk of trauma to the tooth. The amount of tooth to be removed for the veneers should be discussed with your cosmetic dentist beforehand.
It is common to have minor sensitivity after your teeth have been prepared for your veneers while wearing the temporary veneers. Veneers are very reasonable facsimiles of natural teeth, but not perfect replacements for natural teeth. It’s common to see slight variations in the colour of veneers upon very close inspection, as with natural teeth. It can take up to a month or two before your new smile feels a part of you. If you suffer from bruxism, clenching or grinding of your teeth, veneers can be damaged, chipped or cracked from this. If you suffer from bruxism, speak with your cosmetic dentist about wearing a mouth guard at night to protect your new smile.
Pros and Cons of Lumineer Veneers
Advantages of Lumineers:
Made of Cerinate porcelain, Lumineers are a new type of porcelain veneers. They are contact lens-thin, roughly .2 mm thick. Little to no tooth reduction in most cases is necessary with this type of veneer and anaesthetics or numbing shots are not needed. It is claimed that Lumineers resist micro-leakage and micro-cracking more so than traditional porcelain veneers. Unlike other porcelain veneers, you won’t need to wear temporary veneers until the Lumineers are created. Lumineers are expected to last just as long as traditional porcelain veneers. Lumineers are reversible if no tooth reduction was necessary when they were first done. Cost is less than traditional porcelain veneers.
Disadvantages of Lumineers:
As there is little to no tooth reduction needed for Lumineer porcelain veneers, there is a limit to how much smile correction can be accomplished. This can also lead to bulky appearing and feeling veneers in some cases. Cosmetic Dentists offering Lumineers are specially trained specifically for this type of veneer which means for the time being there are fewer Cosmetic Dentists offering Lumineers.
Pros and Cons of Porcelain Veneers
Disadvantages of Porcelain Veneers:
While the change that is made to your teeth using veneers is invariably positive, the visible change can take some time to get used to. The feel of your “new teeth”, too, can also seem quite strange at the start, as we don’t realise quite how adjusted to our original set we actually are until a change is made.
An amount of your tooth enamel will usually need to be removed before veneers can be applied in order to ensure that they appear flush with the rest of your smile. Depending on your individual case, you may find more or less material will need to be taken away than the average. If you need to lose a larger amount, there is a slightly higher risk of lasting trauma to that particular tooth. Of course, cosmetic dentists are highly trained experts and would not undertake a procedure if it was in any way unsafe or unhealthy for you, but it’s important to discuss the matter of enamel removal with them in depth before anything is agreed.
Also, because of the removal of enamel, you may experience increased tooth sensitivity after your teeth have been prepared for the application of veneers. Usually, the first procedure – which includes the removal of the material – and the second procedure to fit the veneers are around a week to a fortnight apart, so you can be given temporary veneers to protect your teeth. If you choose Lumineers veneers, which are extra thin, you’ll need much less tooth reduction, meaning no temporary veneers are necessary, though this can sometimes result in a chunkier feel or appearance.
While veneers are very strong, heavy tooth grinding – also known as bruxism – can chip, crack or damage them. As with natural teeth, they can also be broken playing contact sports. Of course, there are treatments such as specialist mouth guards available through your dentist to prevent grinding, and gum shields should be worn on the sports field if you play hockey, rugby or undertake any similar activity.
Advantages of porcelain veneers:
The main advantage is, of course, the drastic change in the look and form of your teeth that takes place over a very short period of time – regularly under a fortnight.
The material most regularly used – porcelain – is very easy for specialists to work with, enabling them to create minute details and adjust its colour to match your ideal look. It’s also really durable despite the amount used being exceptionally slim (Lumineers veneers are around .2mm thin, for example), and is slightly more difficult to stain than natural teeth, so the colour won’t fade. Of course, you’ll need to keep up your usual dental hygiene routine to see the best results here.
Speech and eating problems relating to the shape or positioning of your teeth can be rectified through the application of veneers.
Veneers in London can last up to twenty years, with the average set staying in place with little to no trouble at all and no maintenance (except normal brushing and flossing) for between ten and fifteen years. When they come to the end of their lives, it could be due to chips, breakages or cracks, or due to a change in the shape of your gums or jaw meaning they don’t fit correctly anymore. When this occurs, all you need to do is visit your cosmetic dentist and they will repair or replace them for you easily. If you choose Lumineer veneers, it’s claimed that the material used is resistant to micro leakages and cracks – and, if no tooth reduction was needed at all upon their application, they are completely reversible.
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Read our Complete Guide to Dental Veneers.