Getting Composite Dental Veneers - Beachwood, OH
For most of my adult life, I wasn’t happy with...
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The Procedure, Before and After
To start the procedure, the dentist compared a few shades of the composite resin to my surrounding teeth. Proper color is one of the most important factors in having natural looking veneers. Please take note that the dentist will need to completely dry out your teeth to prevent saliva from diminishing the effectiveness of the glue. This lack of moisture causes new direct composite veneers to look unnaturally chalky and yellow for the first few days. If the color doesn’t match correctly within a week, you should let your dentist know, and schedule to get them redone. As a precaution, ask your dentist about their redo policy, should your new veneers not come out as expected / desired.
After finding the right shade of resin, which for me was a 50/50 mixture of A1 and C1, he began working on the first tooth. Typically, direct composite veneers are no-prep, (no drilling or shaving required), however, I opted for some prep, (to help with adhesion), which required a slight filing down of the front of my original teeth. The prep was completely painless, so painkillers and novocaine weren’t needed, (it felt similar to a routine cleaning).
Once the tooth was dried and prepped, an adhesive was brushed onto its surface, and the composite resin was applied. The dentist used a few tools to artistically hand-craft the resin into a tooth-like shape, and a special curing light to harden the resin and keep it in place.
To finish, the hardened resin was buffed with a file, inspected for size and fit, (since I have an overbite), and polished. The entire procedure only took about three hours.
Immediately following the procedure, my new composite veneers felt rough and grainy. However, this was only temporary. After a couple days of normal drinking / hygiene habits (water, mouthwash, brushing, etc.), they began to feel as smooth as my normal teeth. Indirect composite veneers are usually smooth from square one, (because they’re created in a lab), while direct composite veneers, which are crafted from liquid resin directly on the surface of your tooth, initially tend to feel more coarse.
Replies (3)
Finally able to see your video. We might not be able to keep it up because you put an external URL in it, and that's against our TOS. I have a question in to my supervisor though, so I'll let you know, cause I like the video, and I like the way it shows your results in more detail than a flat picture does. With movement.
I was reminded of another of our dental community members who also had peg laterals. She's called PeggySue86 (review here) but she chose porcelain and didn't have to deal with a gap as well. For just the pegs it was cheap, but I don't know how much the diastema would add to the overall cost.
Congratulations! I'm sorry that you were told braces couldn't fix your gap. Frenectomy is a common way to take care of the frenulum that causes the gap (my daughter has that and they've recommended a frenectomy). However, the way that you have chosen allows you to have a beautiful smile without the frenectomy; and the peg laterals could not have been fixed with braces. Those would have to be either bonded or veneered anyway. So I think you can feel satisfied that you got great value for your money.
I am curious how long the composite veneers are expected to last, compared to porcelain. Did your doctor discuss that with you, by any chance?
Thanks!
I'm no doctor, so I don't know if it's new technology or what, but at least one of our Invisaligners, (you can see NRK0314's story here,) is an adult who got a frenectomy for a diastema! I've read a few other stories of people talking about it, all adults, but I have no idea how common it is, and all of these stories are recent--in the last few years--and it sounds like the advice you were given was not as recent.
That's nice that he gave you a low estimate--so you can start budgeting now! By the time you need them replaced, you can make the decision to go with the composite again or porcelain. :)