Hi, this is Dr. Robert Antolak and I would like to talk to you about dental veneers. If you’re interested, our phone number is 586-247-3500. Our dental office is located in ShelbyTownship, Michigan, in Macomb County.
A question I get a lot of times is how long do dental veneers and crowns last?
I think that’s a really valid question. We usually find this depends on the patient receiving the dental restoration. What is required is good hygiene. Good hygiene means that you need to come into the dental office on a regular basis. The number of regular visits will depend on the current health of your gums and things like that.
Another thing that will affect longevity of any restoration is whether a person has good nutrition. People who are drinking lots of pop or eating candy and sweets can create an environment where cavities will form right around the crown or veneer. If your mouth has the wrong environment, cavities will form no matter what’s done.
Another thing that will affect the longevity of a veneer is how hard and rough somebody is on their teeth. There are many people who grind their teeth at nighttime. They may not even be aware of it, but over time, the teeth actually grind down to small, little stubby teeth.
There’s nothing better and more durable than our natural teeth, how God designed them . If we try to get your teeth back to a nice looking smile, it’s important to wear a bite guard which is a plastic piece that protects the teeth.
So obviously there is not a simple cut and dry answer about how long veneers, porcelain crowns or even tooth colored fillings last. It’s really dependent on the person. But in general, they’ll last 10, 20 or 30 years if somebody takes good care of them.
So with that in mind, I’m going to show you what a veneer is. This is a tooth colored restoration made out of porcelain. It actually gets bonded right to the surface of the teeth. It’s very thin, about the thickness of a credit card.
When veneers get bonded to the tooth structure, especially to the enamel , they have a very strong longevity. Once again, I would recommend wearing something at night time, especially if you are a grinder. If you grind your teeth, over time, veneers will not last. They will break down and they will chip just like they did with your natural teeth.
Personally, I’ve had two veneers on my two front teeth that have lasted about 14 or 15 years. I hardly know that they’re there.
I’m going to pull my head back here, and you can see possibly what it looks like. So in the back of my two front teeth here, the top part is the veneer and the underset is my natural tooth. I don’t know if you can see that or not, but it’s a little darker back there. I was actually able to have a friend of mine who’s a dentist bond the veneers porcelain up in the front here. Then nobody ever even knows that I have them and that’s just two veneers.
We try to be as conservative as possible when we do place dental veneers, porcelain crowns, tooth colored fillings. It’s best to try to bond to as much to the natural tooth structure that we can get because it’s going to provide the longest longevity. Being conservative is a good thing in dentistry.
So that’s my story about dental veneers. Like I say, I don’t even know that they’re on. We’ve been able to restore many people’s teeth, given back their smile and helped them feel good about themselves again in a very confident way.
Contact Shelby Township Dentist, Dr. Antolak About Dental Veneers
So if there’s any question about dental veneers or any type of cosmetic dentistry, please contact our Shelby Township dental office. Our phone number is 586-247-3500. Our website is the thegentledentist.com. Thank you, and have a blessed day.