Question:
I recently went to a dentist to have my teeth whitened but changed my
mind after seeing photos of the porcelain veneers. I'll be spending
over $15,000 dollars for a cosmetic process that is irreversible and
that scares me. I'm planning to have veneers placed on 10 upper and
10 lower teeth.
I have read many of the discussions in this news group concerning this
topic. There were some negative experiences like increased
sensitivity, bad breath, and veneers popping off. Someone even had
trouble eating an apple. Really? I don't have any special
challenges, grinding, nail biting, etc., but I'm still concerned about
making the right decision.
Because of advances in dental technology I have to wonder how much
weight to give to work done 5 to 10 years ago. Can someone comment on
this? For example, I'm told that veneers today can "wrap around" the
tooth when this was not done years ago. I would especially like to
hear from anyone who has had this done recently. Would you do
anything differently? I would appreciate any advice.
Answer:
The only advances in Veneers in the past ten years is the adhesive and some
offices will mill the veneers while you wait.
You could always wrap the veneer as far around the tooth as you liked.
I don't know of any patients with veneers who would prefer they never did
them.
Doing strange things with your front teeth [biting open ketchup packages at
McDonald's, biting nails, etc.] will damage veneers, sometimes. Normal
biting and chewing would not hurt them.
Our veneer preparations have changed in the past 10 years. The older
preparation was touted as doable "without anesthesia!" The patient did
not require temporaries if they stayed home a lot.
This means not much drilling. The problem was the knife edge tends to
allow the cement (bonding) to wash out where it is most vulnerable.
Today we chamfer the entire preparation with plenty of anesthesia of
course, we place temporary veneers (necessary with the new drastic
preparation, unnecessary with the older conservative preparation), so
things are very different.
Now I have seen lots of lousy veneers from ten years ago!
As for crowns, well crowns are crowns. If they are well done, they can
last 20-30 years ,,,, sometimes more!
And you are not alone. However in
general I have found veneers to be
one of the longest lasting prosthetic
restorations I do. This is probably
due in fact to a minimalistic prep-
aration, no metal, and good enamel
bonding. I tend to be concerned with
the routine, aggressive 3/4 veneer
preparation that we see more and
more in throw away magazine and
the original poster alluded to:
("I'm told that veneers today can
'wrap around' the tooth when this
was not done years ago. I would
especially like to hear from anyone
who has had this done recently.
Would you doanything differently?
I would appreciate any advice.")
Please don't intrepret that to mean
the wide opening of contacts are not
"occasionally" needed in a major
crowding situation. I tend to adhere
to both Drs Nixon and Nash philosophy
of ideal minimal preparation in a
majority of cases with the use of
stacked porcelain.
BTW I have observed in large veneer
cases that were well performed it is
unusual to need to redo more than a
veneer or two even several decades
down the line. A rare event is to
replace all twenty.
I had veneers placed on in 2002 and sustained a significan systemic
allergic reaction. I began a telogen effluvium where all body hair
and face scalp hair begane to fall out about a week following
placement.
I would advise against veneers or do everything you can to make sure
the dental materials being used are compatable with your body. One
way to test this is the Clifford test. www.ccrlab.com.
