Porcelain or Composite Dental Veneers: What’s Best?
You’d never know how many people have dental veneers. They are possibly the most common cosmetic dentistry solution to improving the appearance of a smile. Dental veneers can cover gaps, fix discolouration, make individual teeth appear straight, replace damaged parts of a tooth, widen your smile and even improve your bite. If you are thinking about dental veneers, you may need to consider what type of veneers will be right for you, either porcelain or composite veneers.
The two kinds of dental veneer
Porcelain Veneers: custom-made shells of super-high-strength porcelain that are bonded securely to the front of existing teeth. Expert cosmetic dentists use these to mask damaged, crooked, discoloured but otherwise healthy teeth.
Composite Veneers: a composite resin in a colour that resemble a natural tooth. This is bonded to your existing tooth and sculpted in place. These can help to adjust the size, shape and colour of unsightly teeth.
Porcelain dental veneers
Porcelain veneers, generally considered the best dental veneers, retain a realistic translucence that mimics the appearance of natural teeth and can last up to 20 years. As they are so highly resistant to damage and stains, porcelain veneers maintain their appearance for many years without follow-up treatments. Unlike composite veneers, a procedure to fit porcelain veneers generally takes place over two visits.
Visit one:
- Prepare the surface of your teeth for porcelain attachment.
- Take an impression of your teeth.
- Determine the correct shape and place of your smile on your face using Digital Smile Design technology.
- Attachment of temporary veneers.
Between appointments:
- A dental ceramist will precisely construct your porcelain veneers to the highest standard. At Advanced Dental Artistry, our ceramist is an in-house professional.
Appointment two:
- Removal of temporary veneers.
- Attachment of your custom-made porcelain veneers.
- Optional whitening of teeth either side of the veneer to match colour.
Composite dental veneers
A composite veneer procedure is a special dental bonding technique that is offered by some dentists. In the procedure, a special tooth-coloured resin is applied to and shaped directly on your teeth. This resin can fill gaps between teeth, mask discoloration and improve the shape and size of teeth.
The procedure itself usually involves one appointment, in which:
- Your teeth are etched to create a better bonding surface
- Composite resin is applied to the tooth
- The resin is sculpted to the desired appearance
- The resin is then hardened with a curing light.
Composite veneers are different from porcelain veneers in important ways:
- Time – The entire procedure can be completed in one visit.
- Cost – Reflecting the faster procedure time and different quality of outcome, composite resin bonding has a lower cost than porcelain veneers.
- Results – Composite veneers are not as strong or as stain-resistant as porcelain veneers. Follow-up treatment is needed more frequently.
At Advanced Dental Artistry, we have decided to no longer fit new composite veneers. We feel the lower durability and your resulting burden of ongoing checkups outweighs the initial dollar saving. However, we will happily perform the necessary checkups on your existing composite veneers.
Dental veneer advice with Advanced Dental Artistry
Find out whether a porcelain or cosmetic veneer treatment will best suit your smile. Contact Dr Adrian Kat and the team at Advanced Dental Artistry.
Your first consultation with us is complimentary and carries no-obligation.
In the meantime, check out some of our dental veneer success stories at Advanced Dental Artistry’s videos on YouTube.
Published on November 20th 2015, last reviewed on February 10th 2020