Same Day Dental Veneers Vs. Lab Made Veneers

All dental veneers are custom fabricated to fit individual teeth regardless if they are made same day or are made over a longer period of time. All dental veneers are fabricated in a laboratory to fit molds of each individual patient’s teeth.
Without proper information the laboratory cannot fabricate veneers that are functional and esthetically pleasing. Each mouth is different and every smile has to be individualized as such.
In order to get the best results from a smile makeover, the temporary phase is extremely important. We call this period the “Dress rehearsal”. The temporary veneers can be adjusted and custom shaped while they are in the patients mouth to ensure they are beautiful for the individual patient.
Once our patients are happy with the esthetics, the temporaries are made into a mold that is used as a template for the fabrication of the permanent veneers. Along with photographs the models of the temporaries are crucial to the success of the final restorations.

Lab Made Veneers are customized to your mouth. They look better and are made of porcelain that has been sculpted by a dental technician. 

The other advantage to lab made veneers is that there is a temporary or provisional phase where you can "test drive" your new smile. Any changes that you want can be made before the final veneers are fabricated.

Same Day Veneers (if made from porcelain) are made on a CAD/CAM machine that makes porcelain in the dentist's office. These are usually made from a block of porcelain that is one color. The problem is that teeth, especially front teeth, have multiple shades and colors. To make same day veneers not look like a one color block, the dentist needs to stain the veneers in the office.

At the end of the day Lab Made Veneers almost always look better. The only advantage of Same Day Veneers if the single appointment. 

The options available today are remarkable.  While proper planning is important, i have personally done hundreds of same day CEREC veneers with remarkable outcomes. Today, the blocks have built in color, and can be further customized with cutback of the porcelain or staining.  There need not be  an esthetic compromise with a same day approach.  It does make for a long day.

Some patients need a provisional phase.  i recommend this for very large changes.  For smaller cases, CEREC same day dentistry is a very predictable and beautiful option. 

If you want to consider same day veneers, look for a dentist with a lot of CEREC experience, who will customize the outcome to meet your needs.

Depth of color, shine, iridescence, and natural appearance are always better with lab veneers. But of course it a dentist can only advise you, a patient will always be given the choice and displayed their options.

Many patients have asked me why I don’t offer same day veneers like some offices do. There are a number of reasons for this.
The primary reason I do not believe in same day veneers is that if there is no provisional phase, there is no way to fine tune the look of the veneers in that provisional stage. Whenever I do a cosmetic makeover for a patient, there is a lot of give and take about what you, the patient, would like to see in your new smile. We are talking about color of the veneers, shape of the veneers and the way your veneers will help support your lip in a more youthful look. I take your suggestions, sometimes a photograph of what you like, and try to give you that look in the wax mock-up that I make for you. But until you have that look in your mouth, there is no way you can be sure that it will give you what you really want. It is much like looking at a dress or a suit on a mannequin and expecting it to look the same on you. You have to try it on! That is what we do with the provisional restorations. When I prepare your teeth and take the impressions for your veneers, you walk out of our office looking just like our wax mock-up. We have you return to our office in two to three days, when your lip is no longer numb to customize your provisional restorations to give you the look that you want. You will also have a better idea about the shade of tooth that seems right because the provisional restorations will give you a good idea of what a change in tooth shade will do for you. Very often when we place your provisional restorations in a shade that is whiter than your teeth used to be, you can be startled by the change. (It should be mentioned here that almost nobody chooses a shade darker than their present shade.) However, it is not uncommon for us to receive a call the next day asking if the final veneers can be “just one shade whiter” than the provisional restorations.
So you see, the provisional restoration phase is very important because it gives us a chance to try out what is going to be permanent and make changes easily to ensure that your new smile is the right smile for you!
The other reasons I use laboratory made veneers is that when the laboratory makes the veneers, the stain is incorporated into the veneer and so the color is more permanent. Also the laboratory technician that I use is highly skilled in the staining and shaping of the veneers. There isn’t anyone with his unique abilities available to do this quality of work in my office or any other office. I am a firm believer in the use of specialists every step of the way to your new smile. When I create a cosmetic makeover I use the best specialists I know of to allow me to produce the very best result possible for you.

Same day veneers CAN look ok, but often look fake. Many steps are involved to make veneers look natural (fine tuning with provisionals, layering porcelains, etc). If the goal is simply to be done quickly, then same day would work. If you want the best, more time is needed.