Porcelain Veneers in Hocking, Perth

A veneer is a thin porcelain or composite facing bonded to the front of a tooth. People choose them for teeth that are stained beyond what whitening will shift, or chipped, crowded or spaced.

They are shaped and shade-matched to the teeth either side, so the result reads as a tooth rather than as an obvious repair. Veneers are irreversible, because a thin layer of enamel is removed to make room, so the consultation matters more here than almost anywhere else.

What a veneer is, and what it is not

Veneers are thin pieces of porcelain or composite material bonded to the front surface of your teeth. They are used to change the shape and the colour of a tooth, to cover a fracture, and to mask surface staining that will not lift with whitening.

A veneer covers the front. A crown covers the whole tooth. That distinction decides which one you need: a veneer improves how a fundamentally sound tooth looks, while a crown holds together a tooth that has lost too much structure to be relied on. A heavily filled or root-treated front tooth usually wants a crown even where a veneer would look identical, because the veneer does nothing to stop the tooth splitting.

Porcelain veneer: Made in a laboratory from an impression or scan, then bonded on at a second appointment. Resists staining, holds its polish, and lasts longest. More expensive, and it cannot be repaired — a chipped porcelain veneer is replaced.
Composite veneer: Tooth-coloured resin shaped directly onto the tooth and set with a light, usually in one visit. Less expensive, often needs little or no enamel removed, and can be repaired or added to. Stains and wears sooner than porcelain.
Composite bonding: The same material used to rebuild part of a tooth rather than face all of it — a chipped corner, a small gap. Worth asking about before committing to a full veneer, because it is cheaper, faster and usually reversible.

Porcelain and composite behave differently. Porcelain resists staining better and lasts longer; composite is cheaper, can often be done in one visit, and is easier to repair. We will tell you which suits the tooth in question and what each costs.

At a glance

What it is: A thin porcelain or composite facing bonded to the front of a tooth
Appointments: Porcelain: two, about a fortnight apart. Composite: usually one
Anaesthetic: Local, for the preparation appointment. Often not needed for composite
Reversible?: No. A thin layer of enamel is removed to make room
Between visits: A temporary veneer, so you are never without a front tooth
Before you commit: You see and approve the proposed shape and shade first

How porcelain veneers are fitted

Two appointments, about a fortnight apart, with one decision point in the middle that is worth taking seriously.

Consultation and planning
Examination, X-rays, photographs and shade selection. This is where whitening gets done first if it is going to be done at all, because porcelain cannot be lightened later. We agree the shape and the shade before anything is prepared.
Preparation
Under local anaesthetic, a thin layer is removed from the front of the tooth — usually well under a millimetre — so the veneer sits flush rather than proud. An impression or scan goes to the dental technicians who make the veneer.
The temporary
You leave with a temporary veneer, so there is never a stage where you are walking around with a prepared front tooth on show. Temporaries are more fragile than the real thing; treat them gently and avoid biting directly into anything hard with them.
The try-in
At the second appointment the veneer is held in place before it is bonded, so you can see it in your own mouth, in daylight, and say whether the shape and shade are right. Changes at this point are easy. Changes after bonding are not.
Bonding
The prepared tooth is cleaned and etched, and the veneer is cemented and cured. The bite is checked and adjusted, and the margins polished.
Review
A short appointment a week or two later to check the gum has settled around the margin and that nothing is catching when you bite.

Between the two you wear a temporary. You will see the proposed shape and shade before the final veneer is bonded, and that is the point at which changes are easy rather than expensive.

The part worth thinking hardest about

Veneers are irreversible, and that fact deserves more weight than it usually gets.

Once enamel has been removed it does not grow back, and the tooth underneath will need to be covered by something for the rest of its life. That is not an argument against veneers — it is an argument for being sure that a veneer is what the tooth needs, and for exhausting the reversible options first.

So we will suggest whitening before veneers where colour is the whole problem, composite bonding before porcelain where the change is small, and aligners before either where the real issue is that a tooth is in the wrong place. A crooked tooth faced with porcelain is a crooked tooth with porcelain on it.

We will also say no. Veneers on teeth with active gum disease, on a mouth that grinds heavily without a night guard, or on a teenager whose gum line has years of settling left to do, are veneers that will need redoing. Where the answer is not yet, we would rather say so than book the appointment.

Living with veneers

Well-made veneers are undramatic to live with. The failures, when they happen, are nearly always one of four things.

What goes wrong	Why	What prevents it
A chip or a fracture	Biting something hard on a front tooth, or grinding at night	A night guard if you grind. Not using front teeth to open packaging, bite thread or crack nuts
A mismatch appearing over time	Porcelain holds its colour while the natural teeth beside it darken	Whitening before the veneer is made, and a top-up of the neighbouring teeth every year or two
A dark line at the gum	The gum receding slightly and exposing the margin	Careful brushing at the gum line and regular cleans. Gum health decides how a veneer ages more than the porcelain does
Decay behind the veneer	The tooth underneath is still a tooth, and the margin is where decay starts	Flossing, six-monthly examinations, and X-rays at the usual interval

Brush and floss veneers exactly as you would the teeth either side. There is no special technique and no special paste — if anything, avoid the most abrasive whitening pastes, which dull the polish on composite in particular.

Common questions

Veneers: your questions answered

How many veneers do people usually have?: Anything from one to ten. One is common and perfectly normal where a single tooth is chipped or has darkened. The number is usually decided by how far the smile line goes when you smile widely, because a veneer on a tooth that never shows is money spent on nothing. We will work that out from photographs at the consultation.
Will a single veneer match my other teeth?: That is the hardest thing in cosmetic dentistry, and it is very often achievable on a single front tooth. Matching one new tooth to five natural ones takes shade photographs and sometimes a custom shade appointment with the technician. It is also the reason we suggest whitening first: matching to an even, settled shade is far easier than matching to a mottled one.
Does having them fitted hurt?: The preparation appointment is done under local anaesthetic, so no. Some sensitivity to cold in the days between preparation and fitting is common, because a thin layer of enamel has been removed and the temporary does not insulate as well as the final veneer will. It settles once the veneer is bonded.
How long do they last?: There is no single number, and anyone quoting one confidently is guessing. In practice it depends far more on grinding, on gum health and on what you bite with your front teeth than on the porcelain. What we can say is that porcelain outlasts composite, that a night guard makes a substantial difference if you grind, and that we will tell you at each check-up how the margins and the gums are doing.
Can a veneer be replaced when it fails?: Yes. The old one is removed and a new one made, and because the tooth is already prepared very little further enamel usually needs to come off. That is the ongoing commitment worth understanding at the outset: a veneered tooth stays a veneered tooth.
Will my health fund cover them?: Usually only partly, and sometimes not at all, because most policies treat veneers as cosmetic. Where there is a functional reason — rebuilding a fractured tooth, for instance — cover is more likely. Ask us for the item numbers before you commit and your fund will tell you the exact rebate.
Can I have veneers if I grind my teeth?: Often, but not without a night guard, and we will be direct about that rather than treat it as optional. Grinding is the single commonest cause of veneers chipping. If you clench heavily we may also suggest a crown instead on the teeth taking the most load.
What about veneers done overseas?: We see the results of both good and poor work from abroad, and the difficulty is never the first year. It is that follow-up, adjustment and warranty are impractical at that distance, and that a problem at the margin is usually invisible to you until it has been there some time. If you have had work done overseas, come in for an examination and X-rays so at least somebody local has a baseline.

All frequently asked questions

Cosmetic

Other cosmetic treatments

Conservative changes to shape, shade and alignment.

Next step

Book about veneers

We will go through the options, what each involves, and what your health fund covers, before anything begins.

Call (08) 9306 2755

Which system do you use?

Which system do you use?

Veneers

Which system do you use?

What a veneer is, and what it is not

Which system do you use?

How porcelain veneers are fitted

The part worth thinking hardest about

Living with veneers

Veneers: your questions answered

Other cosmetic treatments

Book about veneers

Which system do you use?

Which system do you use?