A Quick Guide to Dental Veneers in Los Angeles

What are dental veneers?

Dental veneers in Los Angeles, also known as porcelain veneers, are extremely thin pieces of porcelain that are used to enhance your teeth. They are used in a number of different situations including repairing the teeth when they have been damaged, cracked, chipped, or broken. Veneers are designed to mimic the natural enamel of your teeth, which is why they are so thin and do so without requiring large amounts of the natural enamel to be shaved away. Dental veneers have many of the same qualities as the enamel they are replacing, which makes them virtually undetectable, for you and for people you smile at, once they have been installed.

How are dental veneers in Los Angeles placed?

The process of placing dental veneers begins with an initial consulting appointment. During this visit, we need to do two things. First, we need to identify if you are a good candidate for dental veneers. Most often patients are fine, but sometimes there are underlying factors that can require other treatment options. An example is if the tooth is too badly decayed, we may need to replace it using a dental implant or cover it more completely with a dental crown. Secondly, we need to make sure that there are not treatable issues that come out during the placing of the veneers.

After the initial consultation, we will schedule a visit where you will have the porcelain veneers placed. To place the dental veneers, we will need to shave away a few millimeters of the tooth's enamel. This allows the veneer to be placed flush with the tooth, making it so that the tooth does not lose its natural contour and remains smooth. We will place the veneer, making sure that the color, shape, and size give you the best-looking tooth possible. Once we are satisfied with the look of the veneer and its functionality, we will adhere it to the tooth using dental cement.

What are dental veneers in Los Angeles used for?

There are very few tools in the dentist tool box, which are quite as adaptable as the porcelain veneers. We use them for all manner of treatments based on the fact that they are a tiny porcelain piece that essentially replaces damaged or stained enamel. Since we do not have to shave away a large portion of the natural enamel to place the veneers, they are often preferred over dental crowns for minor repairs. With dental crowns, a large amount of the natural enamel must be removed to place the crowns properly. Another common application for dental veneers is when people are unable to whiten their teeth using traditional means. Sometimes the formulas in teeth whitening just cannot get the job done on stubborn stains. In cases like this, removing a tiny portion of the enamel, and replacing it with a dental veneer, is a quick and efficient way to get the tooth looking perfectly white. Porcelain veneers are also used to repair gaps in teeth, for alignment, and to resized and reshape teeth.