There are many reasons why people might feel slightly self-conscious about their teeth, ranging from having missing teeth to discoloured teeth. However, it’s a shame not to be proud of your teeth – as the saying goes; the best thing you can wear is a smile! Dublin18 Dental Care can help you with treatments to make over your smile and help you feel more confident, and one of these is dental veneers.

What is a veneer?

Veneers are incredibly thin shells of tooth-coloured material which fit over your teeth to improve their appearance. After a mould is taken of your teeth, to ensure your veneers fit your mouth specifically, the veneers are created in a laboratory. These are then ‘cemented’ in place, and then treated with a special light in order to fix them onto your teeth. The comparison is often made to false fingernails. Veneers can be made of porcelain, ceramic or a composite material (this is used in a procedure called ‘composite bonding’). Porcelain is the most commonly-used material as it is easy to make it tooth-coloured, and it is very strong – with a good hygiene routine, porcelain veneers can last between five and ten years.

What how can veneers help my smile?

Veneers can help cover imperfections to render a more uniform, brilliant smile. Stained or discoloured teeth can be helped with veneers, while damaged teeth – for example, a tooth which has become chipped, can be covered with veneers too. This is particularly suitable if there are just one or two damaged teeth that need ‘repairing’. Equally, uneven gaps between teeth can be covered with veneers, to give a more uniform smile. Veneers are not usually an ideal solution for crooked teeth, but can give an ‘instant fix’ appearance for crooked teeth, unlike the longer process of orthodontics.