A lot of things can spoil your smile—like chips, excessive wearing or heavy staining. But one cosmetic solution could address these and other dental flaws: porcelain dental veneers.

Veneers are thin, porcelain shells bonded to teeth to hide minor to moderate imperfections. The technique first took the world by storm over three decades ago and they're even more versatile, durable and life-like today.

Your makeover journey with veneers starts with a thorough dental examination. We want to see if you have any tooth or gum problems that should be treated first. We also want to assess your overall dental situation to see if veneers are the right way to go, or if a different cosmetic approach would serve you better.

If it appears veneers are a good option for you, our next step is to plan out the design of your custom veneers. It helps to "see" what your future smile with veneers will look like. Special software can manipulate a current photo of your face to display your updated smile with veneers via computer monitor.

Alternatively, a dentist can produce a mock-up or "trial smile" formed with tooth-colored filling materials that are temporarily applied to your teeth. The trial smile method enables you to see your smile in "real life."

Once we've finalized your veneer design, we submit the details to a dental lab to produce them. In the meantime, we'll need to prepare your teeth by removing a small portion of the enamel, so that the veneers won't appear too bulky. This alteration won't harm your teeth, but you'll need veneers or another restorative covering from then on.

With the arrival of your new veneers, it's time to bond them to your teeth. We'll first clean the tooth surfaces and etch them with a mildly acidic gel to improve the contact between the teeth and veneers. We then carefully situate the new veneers and bond them with a resin-based cement.

Although you'll need to take care when biting down, your new bonded veneers will be durable and appear to be a seamless part of your teeth. Best of all, you'll have a new attractive smile and the renewed confidence to show it.

If you would like more information on porcelain veneers, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Porcelain Veneers: Your Smile Better Than Ever.”

Want to know the exact wrong way to pry open a stubborn lid? Just ask Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC-TV’s popular “Tonight Show.” When the 40-year-old funnyman had trouble opening a tube of scar tissue repair gel with his hands, he decided to try using his teeth.

What happened next wasn’t funny: Attempting to remove the cap, Fallon chipped his front tooth, adding another medical problem to the serious finger injury he suffered a few weeks before (the same wound he was trying to take care of with the gel). If there’s a moral to this story, it might be this: Use the right tool for the job… and that tool isn’t your teeth!

Yet Fallon is hardly alone in his dilemma. According to the American Association of Endodontists, chipped teeth account for the majority of dental injuries. Fortunately, modern dentistry offers a number of great ways to restore damaged teeth.

If the chip is relatively small, it’s often possible to fix it with cosmetic bonding. In this procedure, tough, natural-looking resin is used to fill in the part of the tooth that has been lost. Built up layer by layer, the composite resin is cured with a special light until it’s hard, shiny… and difficult to tell from your natural teeth. Best of all, cosmetic bonding can often be done in one office visit, with little or no discomfort. It can last for up to ten years, so it’s great for kids who may be getting more permanent repairs later.

For larger chips or cracks, veneers or crowns may be suggested. Veneers are wafer-thin porcelain coverings that go over the entire front surface of one or more teeth. They can be used to repair minor to moderate defects, such as chips, discolorations, or spacing irregularities. They can also give you the “Hollywood white” smile you’ve seen on many celebrities.

Veneers are generally custom-made in a lab, and require more than one office visit. Because a small amount of tooth structure must be removed in order to put them in place, veneers are considered an irreversible treatment. But durable and long-lasting veneers are the restorations of choice for many people.

Crowns (also called caps) are used when even more of the tooth structure is missing. They can replace the entire visible part of the tooth, as long as the tooth’s roots remain viable. Crowns, like veneers, are custom-fabricated to match your teeth in size, shape and color; they are generally made in a dental lab and require more than one office visit. However, teeth restored with crowns function well, look natural, and can last for many years.

So what happened to Jimmy Fallon? We aren’t sure which restoration he received… but we do know that he was back on TV the same night, flashing a big smile.

If you would like more information about tooth restorations, please contact us or schedule a consultation. You can learn more in the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Porcelain Crowns & Veneers” and “Artistic Repair Of Front Teeth With Composite Resin.”