Let's be perfectly clear; veneers are optional. You do not have to do it. If you would like to improve the looks of you teeth/smile, then you may elect to do it. You can go the rest of you life perfectly fine without them. Veneer are irreversible since the teeth have to reduced lightly. So you need to be sure about doing it. If you are young (20s-30s) then you may consider something more conservative like whitening combined with re-contouring and bonding. A good restorative dentist can achieve very nice results and this would be minimally invasive. You can always upgrade to veneers later in life. Doing 4 veneers would look better since the color, shape and size of the teeth can be make more ideal. Good luck Dr. T
Unfortunately once a veneer has been cemented with a permanent cement it will likely need to be cut off to remove it. You'll have to have a new one made. Panavia is an excellent cement, however it is not recommended to be used to cement veneers because it is very white and opaque and it will change the color of the veneer. Veneers are very thin and translucent. I bet the veneer looks whiter. Good luck Dr. T
A gummy smile is not a problem. It is only an esthetic issue if the person does not like it. There are no health problems related to gummy smiles. Based on you photos, I would not consider your case to be very gummy at all. I do not recommend any treatment. Dr. T
The mock-up is a great tool to get an idea of what things will look like. The limitations of the mock up is that it has to be all additive and the material used it resin/acrylic. So it will tend to look bulky and somewhat opaque. The final result in porcelain should always look much better since the teeth will be prepared and the material will be more life-like porcelain. It should not look bulky. Also, the finals will be individual as opposed to stuck together. good luck Dr. T
A 3 unit bridge should last on average10 yrs or more. There are many factors: stability of abutment teeth, patient's habits of grinding, clentching, home care, oposing teeth, quality of dental lab, dentist ability and precision. Looking at the abutment teeth, the best treatment plan is an implant supported crown on tooth #4. This way you releave the added stress on teeth #s 3 and 5. Typically a root canal treated molar is fine as an abutment as long as it has good structure. Yours looks like it has had an apico-ectomy as well, so it may not be great. I would get a second opinion. It sounds like they are either not doing a good job or the teeth are just not good enough to support. Good luck Dr. T
