What to Expect from Dental Veneers?

Dental veneers were originally invented in the 1930s by a California dentist who created them for Hollywood actors to help change the look of their teeth for various roles. Held onto the teeth by denture adhesive, those early veneers fell off after short periods, which was not a problem at the time because they were designed to be merely temporary solutions to a short-term goal.

As technologies developed for bonding material to teeth and patients in the general public began to seek aesthetic improvements to their smiles -- without the time, expense and difficulty of invasive solutions such as implants -- today's porcelain veneers became the industry standard. Modern micropolymer bonding materials can comfortably, securely adhere porcelain veneers to a patient's teeth for up to 30 years.

Dental veneers are custom-made shells of wafer-thin, tooth-colored ceramic material that a dentist bonds to the front surface of a patient's teeth to improve their smile. Veneers can cover worn down tooth enamel, straighten uneven tooth alignment or spacing, hide chips or cracks, and change the color, shape, size, or length of the patient's teeth.

Today veneers are generally made from porcelain or from resin composite materials. Porcelain veneers are better at resisting stains retain more of the light-reflective qualities of natural teeth than resin veneers do, while resin veneers are thinner and need removal of less of the tooth surface before they are placed.

Dental veneers fall into the category of cosmetic dentistry because they create a bright, white smile with beautifully aligned, shapely teeth. Even better, the translucent ceramic quality of today's veneers provides a more natural look than anything available in the past.