Understanding Porcelain Veneers

Porcelain veneers are the most powerful, most flexible, and most attractive cosmetic dentistry procedure available. They can help you with virtually any cosmetic problem you have with your teeth, and they can usually treat all your cosmetic complaints at the same time. Just one procedure–taking two visits over about two weeks–and you can have virtually a new smile with porcelain veneers.

Do You Want the Smile of Your Dreams?

Imagine the smile of your dreams. Is it a brilliant white, or not too white, just a little whiter than your natural teeth? Is every tooth perfectly straight and long, or is there one or two that are just a little different? Does your perfect smile immediately draw every eye in the room, or does it go unnoticed most of the time, just a natural part of your attractive facial appearance? Whether your dream smile stands out or blends in, porcelain veneers can achieve it for you.

Porcelain veneers can help if your teeth are:

• Discolored
• Stained
• Chipped
• Small
• Poorly shaped
• Gapped
• Crooked

That’s right, with porcelain veneers we can get rid of all these complaints at the same time, so you can have a smile that is as perfect–or as personal–as you always imagined it.

How Porcelain Veneers Work

Porcelain veneers are mostly like their name describes them. They are veneers, thin sheets of ceramic that are custom-crafted to fit on your natural teeth.

Because veneers cover the visible surface of your tooth, they can make your new teeth any color. They can be made to perfectly match your other teeth–if, for example, you have one discolored tooth–or they can be made as bright as you want them, much brighter than your natural teeth.

And because veneers can fit over the sides and top of your teeth, they can be used to reshape your natural teeth. If your teeth are small, porcelain veneers can be used to build them up. If your teeth are oddly shaped, porcelain veneers can reshape them so they perfectly match the rest of your teeth.

And don’t get too hung up on the word “porcelain.” Porcelain doesn’t describe any particular kind of ceramic, just that the ceramic is white (or whitish). The ceramic used in modern porcelain veneers is amazing. It’s beautiful and natural in appearance, and it’s capable of withstanding about 58,000 pounds per square inch (psi). How does that compare to your natural tooth enamel? Tooth enamel can be as strong as 7100 psi tensile strength, but the tensile strength  may be only 1700 psi, depending on where the force is coming from.

Why Your Dentist Matters

Porcelain veneers are an amazing technical invention, but in order to achieve a truly beautiful smile, you need a dentist who knows how to wield that technology artistically. That is a rare combination.

Although there are many dentists in Tulsa that offer porcelain veneers, few of them perform the procedure well. A dentist with little experience or training in porcelain veneers often makes one of the following mistakes:

• They don’t really hear you when you tell them how you want your smile to look
• They design your smile “by the numbers” so you get a generic result
• They make mistakes when preparing your teeth, which can affect the durability of veneers
• They install veneers in an unhealthy bite position, leading to damage
• They don’t properly blend colors of veneers with natural teeth

All of these can contribute to an unattractive smile, or one that doesn’t last as long as it should.

If you want to talk with cosmetic dentist Dr.Hodges about your porcelain veneers, please call (918) 528-3330 today for an appointment at élan Tulsa Cosmetic Dentistry.