What Are Porcelain Veneers?
A single porcelain veneer, shown here in white, is bonded to the front of the tooth.
Porcelain veneers are thin shells made of medical-grade porcelain which are bonded directly to your natural teeth. If you have cracked, weakened, or stained teeth, or have a gap that needs closing, cosmetic dentist Dr. Marianna Farber can use porcelain veneers to transform your smile without invasive treatments.
Why Choose Porcelain Veneers?
Porcelain veneers are custom made and have a slightly translucent finish with subtle variations in color—just like your natural teeth. Measuring about the thickness of a fingernail, the only “noticeable” thing about them is their beautiful appearance and shine.
While they are thin, porcelain veneers are strong enough to endure the wear-and-tear of everyday life. When cared for properly, they can last 15 to 20 years or longer. As added advantages, porcelain is harder than your natural enamel and is more resistant than enamel to staining.
Getting the Right Smile Design for You
Before you get porcelain veneers—or have any type of cosmetic dental work done—it’s important for you to know that cosmetic dentistry is not taught as a part of the dental school curriculum. This means that any general dentist can place porcelain veneers, even though they may not have the advanced training or artistic talent to do it well. Dr. Farber is a member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, has graduated from Columbia University’s post-graduate training in cosmetic dentistry, and has extensive experience with cosmetic dentistry procedures like porcelain veneers.
She starts your porcelain veneers with a discussion about how you want your teeth to look. If you want, you can bring in a photograph of a smile that you like as a way to begin that discussion. Dr. Farber will then have a wax model made of a smile design. If you approve, she will have that made into a provisional smile makeover which will be made in Luxatemp, a temporary restorative resin. You’ll be able to wear that and see if it meets your expectations for your dream smile. If you need any adjustments made, that will be easily done.
Once you decide that you love this new smile design, Dr. Farber will begin the steps needed to have that smile design created in porcelain.
The Porcelain Veneer Procedure
The first step in actually creating your porcelain veneers is to do any needed tooth preparation. While it is possible to place veneers with no tooth preparation, often at least minimal preparation of the teeth is required for an optimal result. Dr. Farber will then take impressions of your teeth using an iTero scanner. This is nothing like messy molds you might remember from dental procedures of the past but is an optical scan of your teeth that will enable the laboratory to re-create a three-dimensional model of your teeth. Next, she will send these scans to Jason J. Kim Dental Aesthetics—the elite New York dental lab she partners with for all of her porcelain veneer work.
About 1 to 3 weeks later, when your porcelain veneers are ready, you’ll come in to try them in. If you’re completely happy with the fit, shape, and coloration of your veneers, Dr. Farber will bond them to your teeth with advanced bonding technology and you’ll walk out with the smile you’ve always wanted.
Beautiful Smile Guarantee
Dr. Farber backs up her smile makeover work with a beautiful smile guarantee. She goes through multiple steps to make sure that you will love the shape and color of your new smile. If at any point you don’t love the results, she will make sure your concerns are taken care of before proceeding. If, in spite of all those steps, it comes down to the final try-in of the veneers and you have any hesitation about their appearance, she will not bond the veneers on until you love how they look. They’ll go back to the laboratory for re-make, if necessary. That is her beautiful smile guarantee.
“Dr. Farber did the porcelain veneers on my front teeth a few years ago and they look as perfect today as the day she placed them—natural but also really nice.” – Selma April
It’s possible that you’ve heard of other types of veneers, such as Lumineers, which are thinner and can be placed directly onto the natural tooth. These are advertised as “no-prep” because their application does not require the removal of any enamel. For more information on ultra-thin veneers, please see our Lumineers page.
If you think porcelain veneers are right for you, please call us or visit our schedule an appointment page to schedule an examination. If you just have questions about whether you are a candidate for veneers or just want to meet Dr. Farber before committing to an exam, just ask for a complimentary consultation.
