How are veneers attached?
First, each individual tooth needs to be shaven down and re-shaped to prepare it for the surgery . This is done by scoring and scraping the existing tooth enamel on each tooth. Don’t worry, this is often done under local anaesthetic. However, with the enamel gone, this means that eventually the composite veneers will need to be restored after a period of time, as the original teeth will no longer be under protection. You may need to seek regular dental care to ensure the gum tissue and pulp hasn’t become affected by the veneer.
To attach the ceramic shell veneer, it is then bonded to the tooth using a special cement glue. This needs to be done to every individual tooth in order to achieve a flawless smile, and each individual veneer can set you back thousands.
Veneers do not look like or are they fitted in the same way as dental crowns. Crowns are used to encase the entire tooth with material whereas veneers simply only cover the front of the tooth.
It is important to remember that once this treatment has been performed, there is no going back. The cosmetic dentist will sand down the shape of the teeth to create a tooth structure for the veneer to clip onto.
The dental veneers surgery can last anywhere between an hour and a half to two and a half hours long, excluding treatment planning. Waiting for your dental cement to set (the material used to keep the veneer attached to the tooth) can take longer from patient to patient.