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Understanding The Veneer Treatment Procedure

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Whenever you are gearing up for a dental procedure, it's important to educate yourself about the whole process so that you know exactly what to expect. Here is an overview of what you should expect during your dental veneer treatment with a cosmetic dentist.

Treatment Planning

Your first session with the dentist will be to plan your treatment. Take this opportunity to open up to the dentist and tell or ask them anything and everything you have to say about veneers. This is when you say why you want the veneers, what you expect at the end of the treatment, and your concerns, among other things. The dentist will also take the opportunity to examine your teeth, explain the veneer procedure to you, and confirm your veneer candidacy.

Tooth Preparation

This is when the dentist prepares your teeth for the placement of the veneers. There are three major tasks involved in the preparation stage, and they include:

Trimming

Veneers are pretty light, but they still add some bulk to your teeth. This is why the dentist will trim off some of your tooth enamel; the thickness of the enamel removed should be about equal to the thickness of the veneer to be used. This may or may not be done under anesthesia.

Taking the Shade

This is when the dentist matches your teeth's color to the color of the veneer to be used; there is a shade guide for this purpose. The resulting veneers should not be too different (in terms of color) from the color of the neighboring teeth.

Taking the Impression

This is when the dentist takes an impression of your teeth and mouth. The impression is used to design or choose the veneers to ensure they are the right fit.

Temporary Veneer Placement

This next step may or may not be necessary depending on your situation. A temporary veneer is needed if your veneers are to be manufactured in the laboratory, a process that can take a couple of weeks. You need temporary veneers if your teeth have undergone extensive trimming and they look odd, but you don't need temporary veneers with just minimal teeth preparation. Of course, you also have a say on the issue; tell your dentist if you want the temporary veneers or not.

Veneer Bonding

The last step is the actual placement of the veneers. However, before this is done, the dentist has to evaluate your teeth and the prepared veneers to confirm that they are a good fit. If you have temporary veneers, the dentist will remove them and then bond the permanent ones into place.


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