Dental Veneers in Parramatta, Sydney

VENEERS

What a Veneer Is

A veneer is a thin facing bonded to the front of a tooth. It changes colour, shape, width and surface texture without rebuilding the whole tooth, which is what separates it from a crown.

Because a veneer only covers the visible face, it is a front-teeth treatment. Back teeth take heavy chewing load from angles a facing cannot handle, so damage there is repaired with fillings or covered with crowns instead.

What Veneers Fix, and What They Do Not

Veneers handle problems that live on the surface and the outline of a tooth:

Discolouration that whitening cannot shift, including tetracycline banding and a single dark tooth after old trauma
Chipped or worn edges on front teeth
Small gaps between teeth, including a gap in the midline
Teeth that are narrow, short or an odd shape next to their neighbours
Mild crowding or rotation, where the tooth is close enough to straight to be disguised

They are the wrong answer for several other things. Significant crowding needs orthodontics, because facing a badly rotated tooth means cutting deeply into it to fake the alignment. A tooth that has lost a large part of its structure, or has had root canal treatment, usually needs a crown that wraps and protects it rather than a facing on one side. Grinding that is already chipping natural enamel will chip porcelain too, so the habit gets managed first. And active decay or gum disease is treated before any of this begins, which is covered under complete dentistry.

Porcelain and Composite Compared

Porcelain veneers are made in a dental laboratory from an impression or a digital scan, then bonded in place at a second visit. Porcelain holds its colour, resists staining from coffee, tea and red wine, and reflects light in a way that reads as natural enamel. It costs more, takes at least two visits, and cannot be patched. A chipped porcelain veneer is remade.

Composite veneers are built directly onto the tooth in resin during a single visit. They cost less, need little or no enamel removed in many cases, and can be repaired or reshaped chairside. In exchange they stain over time, need polishing to keep their gloss, and do not last as long.

A rough guide on lifespan is ten to fifteen years for porcelain and four to eight for composite, though both depend far more on grinding, biting habits and gum health than on the material itself.

The Process for Porcelain Veneers

Planning. Photographs, models and a check of the bite and gum line. The number of teeth to treat is decided here, and it is usually more than one, because a single new veneer beside untreated teeth has to match them exactly.
Design preview. A wax or digital mock-up shows the proposed shape and length, and can often be trialled directly on the teeth so you see the result before anything is cut.
Shade. The target shade is chosen at this point. If you are considering whitening, it happens before this step, because porcelain does not lighten later and the veneers will be matched to whatever the neighbouring teeth are on the day.
Preparation. A thin layer of enamel is removed, commonly around half a millimetre, so the veneer sits flush rather than proud of the tooth. An impression or scan is taken and temporaries are fitted.
Bonding. The finished veneers are tried in, checked for fit, shade and margin, then bonded with resin cement and cured.
Review. The bite is rechecked once everything has settled, and adjusted if a veneer is taking early contact.

Enamel Removal Is Permanent

Enamel does not grow back. Once a tooth has been prepared for a porcelain veneer it will need a veneer or a crown on it for the rest of its life, and the decision to start is worth treating as a long term one.

That is an argument for the smallest treatment that solves the problem, not against veneers. Whitening alone fixes some cases. Composite bonding fixes others with little or no preparation. Orthodontics moves a tooth rather than disguising it. A good plan uses the least invasive option that will actually hold up, and only prepares teeth when nothing lighter will do.

Looking After Veneers

Brush and floss normally. The margin where veneer meets tooth is where decay starts, and it is protected by the same habits that protect everything else.
Wear a night guard if you grind. This is the single largest factor in how long veneers last.
Keep front teeth for eating. Opening packets, biting thread, chewing pens and cracking nuts break veneers.
Ask before using whitening products. They will not lighten the veneers, and can leave the treated teeth mismatched against the ones behind them.
Use a non-abrasive toothpaste. Charcoal and heavy whitening pastes dull composite quickly and scratch the glaze on porcelain.
Keep up regular examinations, so an early margin problem is found while it is still small.

Common Questions

Do veneers hurt?

Preparation is done under local anaesthetic and is not painful. Some sensitivity to hot and cold is common while temporaries are on, and it usually settles within a week or two of the final veneers being bonded.

How many teeth need veneers?

Whatever shows when you smile, which for most people is six to ten upper teeth. Treating fewer is possible when the goal is to repair one damaged tooth rather than change the look of the smile.

Can a veneer be removed?

The veneer can be taken off, but the enamel removed underneath it cannot be put back. Removal means replacing it with another veneer or a crown.

Will veneers stain?

Porcelain resists staining well. Composite picks up colour from coffee, tea, red wine and smoking, and needs polishing to bring the gloss back.

Veneers or whitening?

If the teeth are a good shape and simply darker than you would like, whitening is cheaper, quicker and removes no tooth structure. Veneers earn their place when shape, edges, gaps or a stain that will not lift are part of the problem.

Can I get veneers with gum disease?

Not until it is treated. Gums that bleed and recede move the margin the veneer was designed to sit against, which shows as a dark line and an open edge within a year or two.

Veneers Near You

Our Parramatta clinic sees patients from across Western Sydney, including North Parramatta, Westmead, Harris Park, Mays Hill, Granville, Rosehill, Rydalmere, Oatlands, Northmead, Merrylands, Auburn, Dundas, Ermington, Guildford, Toongabbie and Pendle Hill.

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