How Long Do Veneers Take to be Placed?

If you have an imperfect smile (and even celebrities do, until they get help from a cosmetic dentist) you may have considered dental veneers.

These are a highly popular and simple solution for many smile problems, including having chipped or cracked teeth, some that are misshapen or too small or too big compared with neighboring ones, and others that are too discolored to respond to normal whitening procedures.

Dr. Marine can start your smile makeover with No-Prep Veneers, a very strong, but thin new type made of dental porcelain. With a regular veneer, a dentist needs to shave off quite a bit of the front of the tooth that is to receive it, so that when the veneer is placed it doesn’t stick out and make the tooth look artificially bulky. By using the No-Prep version, none or very little of the front of the tooth needs to be removed, which preserves its structure and strength and makes it less sensitive to hot and cold drinks and foods.

How the Process Works

The process starts with a full dental examination, to determine which teeth show when you fully smile and others that may benefit from veneers. Naturally, you want all of those that show to be the same shade, so Dr. Marine would work with you to pick one matching the neighboring teeth without veneers. Alternatively, you could whiten all your teeth to a brighter shade and request that each veneer be created with the exact same color (veneers themselves do not respond to whitening and resist stains).

Creating Temporary Veneers

Dr. Marine will take impression molds of the teeth that will have veneers placed on them to create a temporary version to wear while waiting for the dental lab to craft them. If the temporary ones feel comfortable, the lab will go ahead to create the permanent versions, which takes 2-4 weeks, depending on how many are needed.

Placing the Veneers

When you return, the teeth having veneers placed will be cleaned, a cement is brushed onto each tooth’s surface, then a special light is used to harden the attachment. That’s it, so from start to finish they can take just a few weeks to give you a new smile.

And if you take good care of all your teeth, veneers can last 10 years or more, so are very cost effective.