Will my smile look fake after dental veneers or tooth whitening?

Cosmetic Dentistry FAQ's for Westchester County, NY. Get more tips at http://www.WestchesterCountyCosmeticDentistry.com

Before the 1990s most cosmetic dental work for the front teeth involved using porcelain-metal crowns or caps. These created the appearance of flat, opaque, refrigerator-white fake or denture type teeth. Not only that, many times there were dark lines at the gum line [metal margins], and the gums looked red. Since the early 1990s, we have had technology that allows us to restore front teeth with metal-free ceramic dental veneers. There are no dark lines at the roots and the Veneers are translucent like natural teeth. Also, dental veneers do not irritate the gums, so they do not turn red. In almost all cases, this kind of dental work is undetectable.

How long will dental veneers for my front teeth last?

Once your teeth are reinforced with all-ceramic dental veneers, they now are very similar in wear resistance to natural teeth. Teeth tend to get worn down most at night when we are asleep. At this time we may tend to clench or grind our teeth. In general, food does not wear down our teeth. So, for people who may clench or grind at night, the answer to protecting dental veneers is the same as protecting natural teeth; wear a Night-Guard. Another aspect to this question concerns food types we ingest. As with natural teeth, we need to greatly reduce our intake of refined carbohydrates or sugars. This is especially true in terms of sugar in coffee or tea, soft drinks, gum and hard candy. We can additionally supplement with topical prescription strength fluoride gel to help reduce the incidence of new decay. It is totally realistic to expect natural teeth and those with dental veneers to last for years or even decades.

I would like to remove all the metal in my back teeth, but I don't want my teeth cut down for caps or crowns.

When we remove all the metal in back teeth we remove the metal, all the underlying decay and evident fractures. All healthy natural tooth structure is left intact. It is not cut out. We take an impression of the defects and our laboratory makes ceramic replacements. These are then fused to the remaining natural tooth structure with adhesives. These teeth are now as strong as natural teeth (sometimes stronger) and were restored in the most conservative manner.

Why can't I just wait until my teeth break or hurt, and then I have them fixed?

Yes, you could. And many people do this. But, once teeth begin to fail, or have fractured, many times the subsequent dental work is more extensive and expensive than if these same teeth were restored and reinforced earlier. In restoring these teeth earlier, we can avoid future root canal therapy, extraction, surgery, and bridges. The savings in money, time, and aggravation can be enormous.

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