Should I Replace my Veneers? (photo)

You had six porcelain veneers, and more often than not doing only six makes the veneered teeth look bigger and more prominent and the side teeth less noticeable.  There are many cosmetic dentists who almost never do six veneers, rather two, four, eight or ten.

If you don't like them then certainly there would be nothing wrong with replacing them, however after seeing the photos of you smiling, I would recommend that you have at least eight veneers, and possibly ten if you see the second bicuspid when people see you from the side.

Next time I suggest you and your cosmetic dentist have a long conversation regarding your expectations.  There are so many things to consider, how long to make the teeth (veneers), how many, what smile design, what shade (color), what type of porcelain material, how much translucency and surface texture.  And, without a doubt, you should be able to preview your veneers and approve of them before your dentist bonds them into place. 

We actually have at least 3-4 discussions during porcelain veneer treatment about most of these things and always have the patients approve of the veneers and sign their acceptance or else I will redo them or correct the issue that bothers the patient.  It's no fun for the dentist, patient or ceramist to redo the veneer case after they have been bonded on, thus extremely important to be communicating very effectively as to your expectations.

 

Failure to recognize the bicuspids as part of the smile esthetic zone. When considering a smile makeover focusing on the anterior (front) six veneers only is likely to leave a flat appearance to the smile that does not incorporate the corners of the esthetic zone.

Failure to evaluate the buccal corridors in porcelain veneer case design. Those dark shadows in the back corners of the mouth behind the canines are known as the buccal corridors and can result in the appearance of "missing teeth" in the back when only the front six teeth are considered for veneers.

Failure to build out bicuspids into the smile with porcelain veneers that are proportional to the anterior (front) six teeth. Placing porcelain on small bicuspids without making them proportional to the canines or incisors will result in an incongruent smile with big teeth in the front and small teeth in the back.

I agree with you on how only upper six teeth shows when you smile. This is because of arch being narrow and the veneers were only done for six teeth. This will remain a problem even after you get them redone unless you add one or better yet, two teeth on each side (total of eight or ten). It is hard to comment on the current veneers without seeing how your teeth looked before they were done, what kind of material was used and how the preparation of the teeth was done to achieve these results. Hope you find these points useful if you consider getting them retreated.