Porcelain veneers

What veneers are

A veneer is a wafer-thin shell of porcelain, made in a laboratory to our design, bonded to the front of a tooth. We use Emax lithium disilicate, which is both very strong and beautifully translucent, so the finished tooth has the depth and light of a natural one rather than a flat white look.

Veneers suit teeth that are too dark to whiten, heavily worn, chipped, misshapen or slightly crooked where the patient does not want orthodontics. A full set across the front teeth is a complete smile makeover; a single veneer can rescue one tooth that lets the rest down.

Our approach: minimal, planned, previewed

We design your smile digitally and, where helpful, show you a trial version in your mouth before any tooth is prepared. Preparation removes only a very thin layer of enamel, often less than half a millimetre, and we choose bonding over veneers wherever it can achieve the same result. Honest advice comes first.

The trial smile matters more than any photograph of somebody else. It is built onto your own teeth, in your own face, so you can look at the length and shape in daylight and ask for them shorter, squarer or softer while changing anything still costs nothing.

Choosing the right number of teeth

Most people need fewer veneers than they expect. The teeth that show when you smile are usually the upper six or eight, and if the rest are healthy and reasonably positioned there is no reason to touch them. Where the lower teeth show in speech we will include them, and where a single dark tooth is the whole problem we will do exactly one.

Matching a single veneer to the teeth either side is the hardest thing in cosmetic dentistry, and it is worth saying plainly that it takes longer and sometimes needs a second try-in. We would rather spend that time than hand you a tooth that does not match.

What the two weeks in between are like

After preparation you leave in temporary veneers, made from the same design as the final porcelain. They are not a placeholder to be endured: they are the test drive. Live in them, eat in them, photograph them, and tell us at the fit appointment if anything about the length or shape is not right. Changing the porcelain before it is made costs nothing; changing it afterwards means remaking it.

Temporaries are more fragile than the finished porcelain, so avoid biting directly into hard food with the front teeth and be careful flossing. If one comes loose, ring us and we will re-cement it, usually the same day.

Living with veneers

Emax porcelain does not absorb stain the way natural enamel and composite do, so coffee, tea and red wine will not dull them in the way they dull your own teeth. They are cleaned exactly like natural teeth: brushing twice a day, flossing or interdental brushes, and a hygiene visit twice a year so the gum margins stay healthy.

The commonest cause of a failed veneer is grinding, not chewing. If you clench at night we will make you a thin night guard, and we would rather fit one from the start than replace porcelain in two years. Avoid opening packaging or biting nails with your front teeth, and they should give you ten to fifteen years or more.

Why patients choose Shirland for porcelain veneers

What to expect