ortodontist

Veneers are custom-made thin shells of tooth-coloured materials (composite or porcelain) that can be bonded to the front surface and sometimes back surface of your teeth to improve your smile. These shells can be used to restore teeth that are decayed, fractured, discoloured, malformed, or worn. Also, they can provide aesthetic solutions for closing spaces, modifying bite relationships, and altering tooth size, shape, length, alignment, colour, and contour. Generally, veneers made of porcelain are more resistant to fracture than composite and do not change colour or stain.

Composite veneers can be fabricated in the laboratory or formed by your dentist directly on the tooth. Laboratory-processed composite veneers have superior physical and optical qualities compared with direct composite veneers. However, direct composite veneering is sometimes a desirable option because it can be more conservative, requires less treatment time, and is more affordable. Also, direct composite veneers can be used as a transitional prototype to determine the aesthetic parameters (e.g., form, colour, length, and contour), phonetics, and function of the restoration. This allows the patient to visualize the result and test-drive the restoration before completion with a porcelain veneer.