Bellevue Porcelain Veneers

Dr. Patricia Pauley is a dentist and has answered some of the common questions Bizymoms visitors have about Porcelain Veneers.


Q. What are Porcelain Veneers? 

A. Porcelain Veneers are one of cosmetic dentistry's more recent and successful developments, which are used to combine art and science. They are wafer-thin shells of porcelain that are bonded onto the front side of teeth and that also cover the biting edge of the teeth. They can be an excellent cosmetic dental solution for a wide variety of problems including teeth that are stained, chipped, or slightly misaligned.  Porcelain Veneers are used for extensive smile makeovers where their uses include closing gaps between teeth, fixing chipped teeth, improving a gummy smile, lengthening short teeth, straightening crooked teeth, and generally improving your overall smile. They are also called dental veneers, porcelain laminate veneers or dental porcelain laminates.

Q. Do Veneers look natural? 

A. Porcelain Veneers look absolutely natural if two things occur.  The first is that they are placed by a well trained and qualified cosmetic dentist, who has had advanced studies and extensive training in the area of cosmetic dentistry.  The second is, if the veneers are prepared by a highly qualified porcelain artist so that the veneers shape and color match to adjacent teeth  perfectly.  Both of these things must occur for the porcelain veneers to look natural.  When contemplating porcelain veneers check on the training and credentials of the dentist in the area of cosmetic dentistry and ask to see samples of their personal work exhibiting both before and after photos of their actual patients.  Kym’s video regarding her new porcelain veneers and how they look can be viewed with the Youtube link at the end of this article.

Q. Are there alternatives to porcelain veneers? 

A. Porcelain Veneers may not be suitable for everyone.  If porcelain veneers are not appropriate for your circumstances, your cosmetic dentist will most likely be able to suggest other treatment options that will yield suitable results.  All porcelain crowns may be used, which will give very similar appearing results at about the same cost per tooth treated.  Crowns can used to correct most problems that veneers are capable of correcting. However, more of the natural tooth structure will be removed in preparing a tooth for an individual crown than is removed to prepare a tooth for a veneer.  Additionally, dental veneers usually look more natural than crowns.  Composite Bonding can be used to fix some things at a much lower cost to the patient than either porcelain veneers or crowns.  However, composite bonding cannot fix as many problems as veneers or crowns.  Some of the things that dental composite bonding material can be used to fix are certain small tooth breaks, tooth cracks and chips on teeth. A wonderful use of this material is to close some spaces between teeth called diastemas.  In our office, we often use composite material to close the space between the upper two front teeth with exceptional results for the patient’s new smile.  Of course, composite’s original and most common use is for fillings in the front teeth after the removal of decay. 

Q. How long do dental veneers last and do they require special care?

A. Porcelain veneers should give many years of useful service and beauty if properly placed and adjusted by a knowledgeable cosmetic dentist.  Generally, they should last 12-15 years.  Dr Pat has patients that have had their porcelain veneers for as long as 20 years.  Many Hollywood stars have porcelain veneers rather than traditional teeth whitening methods, because you can choose the shade and amount of whiteness that you want.  The color is permanent and resistant to staining.  Since porcelain is a ceramic, or glass-like, its surface is extremely smooth and impervious so it will not pick up permanent stains.  One or two weeks after you have received your permanent porcelain veneers, you will return to your cosmetic dentist for a follow-up appointment to make any final adjustments needed for a correct bite.  There is very little or no special care needed for your dental veneers other than normal brushing and flossing.  However, it is recommended that a night guard is used when you are sleeping to protect the new investment in your teeth if you either grind or clench your teeth during the night while sleeping.

Q. Do porcelain veneers protect the teeth from decay? 

A. A tooth will be protected from decay by a dental veneer to the extent of the surface area covered by it.  The contact between the tooth and veneer is well sealed.  However, the uncovered back side of the tooth may still be susceptible to decay.

Q. How much do porcelain veneers cost? 

A. It is not always necessary to use porcelain veneers on all of your teeth to obtain a beautiful smile. In some cases as many as 10 porcelain veneers may be needed. However, more commonly, beautiful smiles can be accomplished with 8, 6 or 4 porcelain veneers and in some cases only 1, 2 or 3 veneers maybe needed to accomplish an outstanding new smile.  Therefore, total cost will vary depending upon how many teeth receive porcelain veneers.  Many dentists will only place an even number of veneers, usually 4 or more, because they utilize offsite labs to make the final permanent veneers.  Color match to adjacent teeth is critical and this is much harder to accomplish with either 1 or 3 veneers.  Dentists that have an onsite lab and porcelain artist, such as we do at Brookside Dental, are able to perfectly match even single veneers to the patient’s natural teeth.  Cost for each individual veneer will vary depending upon the geographic area in which you live and among individual dentists within the same geographic area.  In Western Washington, individual porcelain veneers may have a wide range of costs.  To get the quality needed to give an excellent final result to your smile, expect to pay $1300 to $1800 for each porcelain veneer. Prices will vary based on the skill of the individual cosmetic dentist and the quality of the laboratory used to fabricate the new veneer.  Prices outside that range on the upper side are possibly too high without any noticeable increase in veneer quality or on the lower side the veneers may not be of the quality needed to give the desired cosmetic result and longevity.

Q.  How to contact Dr. Pauley if we have further questions?

A. Dr Pat and Dr Cindy both may be contacted at Brookside Dental, Bellevue, WA, by either email at info@brooksidedental.com  or by phone at 425-643-2818.
Website: http://www.brooksidedental.com
Blog #1: http://www.brooksidedental.com/blog
Blog #2: http://bellevuedentist-cosmetic.blogspot.com
Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-W-kNj1KB0  Kym’s New Veneers