Handcrafted for Each Patient
The term “veneer” may bring visions of wood and linoleum to mind. While “veneer” can relate to resurfacing tables and doors, cosmetic dentists have adopted the term. Today, porcelain veneers can transform a smile by resurfacing front teeth with a lifelike dental restoration.
Porcelain veneers are custom-made, handcrafted restorations created by layering dental porcelain for a semi-translucent appearance that mimics tooth enamel. Each veneer is colored, shaped, and textured to look phenomenal in a specific patient’s smile. Dr. Bilello works with a world-class ceramist trained in traditional Japanese techniques, and the results are absolutely gorgeous.
What to Expect: Three Appointments
At your consultation, we may take photos, digital X-rays, 3D X-rays, and molds of your mouth. Dr. Bilello will sit down with you to discuss the aspects of your smile you’d like to change. If you have an idea of what you would like to see in your transformed smile, please let him know. Otherwise, he’ll make recommendations based on his experience and artistic eye.
As a bonus that not all dental offices can provide, we have smile preview software. This means you can compare your current smile with the predicted results of your smile makeover. Seeing potential results is like peering into the future. It’s extremely exciting!
Porcelain veneers require some tooth preparation so that the restorations will lay flat, in line with neighboring teeth. As a conservative dentist, Dr. Bilello always removes as little tooth enamel as possible. We may take additional molds for the ceramist, as well. Dr. Bilello will secure temporaries for you to wear while your custom veneers are being created.
At the third appointment, we’ll remove your temporaries and permanently attach the new veneers to your front teeth. Dr. Bilello will polish and touch up the veneers as needed, and he’ll also check your occlusion–the way your upper and lower teeth fit together when your mouth is shut. When you leave this appointment, your new smile will immediately start making great first impressions!
Care and Maintenance of Porcelain Veneers
Brush and floss veneers as you would natural teeth. If you maintain good oral hygiene and don’t suffer any damage to the veneers, they may last 20 years or more.
These tips will help you protect your veneered and natural teeth:
- Don’t use any dental products with baking soda or other substances that could scratch your veneers.
- Avoid using your teeth for opening bags and biting into hard substances like ice.
- If you’re a bruxer, Dr. Bilello will suggest that you wear a nighttime oral appliance to stop you from clenching and grinding your teeth.
- Stop bad oral habits like chewing on fingernails, pen caps, and pencils.
- As much as is possible, avoid regular consumption of dark, staining foods like blueberries, coffee, tea, and red wine. You can drink cold coffee or tea through a straw to reduce the contact between dark beverages and your porcelain veneers.
Also, veneers do not respond to teeth-whitening products. Natural enamel may discolor long before veneers do, but re-whitening can restore brightness to tooth enamel. Some patients use our Opalescence teeth whitening trays for a few weeks before getting veneers, so we can shade-match the veneers when enamel is at its whitest.
If a porcelain veneer is damaged, dislodged, or otherwise damaged, you’ll need to come in so that Dr. Bilello can either repair or replace it.
Schedule Your Appointments Now
Have questions about porcelain veneers? Reserve a cosmetic consultation with us today! Mark Bilello Family & Cosmetic Dentistry in Houma, LA, invites you to schedule an appointment now by calling (985) 872-9470 or you can schedule online today. We serve residents from many surrounding areas, like Thibodaux, Morgan City, Raceland, and Lockport.