COSMETIC DENTISTRY
Porcelain Veneers

Welcome to the"All about Cosmetic Dentistry" web site - an information site for Cosmetic Dentistry today!

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Porcelain veneers are thin wafers no thicker than a fingernail that a cosmetic dentist will bond to your tooth to give the tooth a whole new appearance.

These are the most elegant and the most versatile way to improve your smile. They can change the color, spacing, alignment, length, or shape of your teeth.

If you feel a need to make some improvement in your smile, it may help you to know that you are not alone. While an attractive smile is widely viewed as a social and business asset, is it interesting to note that half of all Americans are unhappy with their smiles. This is according to a survey commissioned by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. If you need a whole new smile, porcelain veneers are the way to go. These are the most beautiful restorations made in dentistry today. Nothing exceeds this material for life-like beauty.

With porcelain veneers, you can have the smile you want. The teeth can be re-shaped and re-colored with a great deal of artistic latitude. There are limitations, which your cosmetic dentist will share with you as far as your individual case is concerned, but the results are fairly predictable. The amount of whiteness you want can be incorporated into the porcelain, up to the limits of the material. If you want teeth that are as white, radiant, healthy-looking, natural-looking, and straight as possible, this is the ultimate.

However, there is a word of caution in order for the consumer here. The proper placing of porcelain veneers requires extensive additional training beyond dental school. And, since cosmetic dentistry is not a legally recognized specialty, any general dentist can legally announce that he or she is a "cosmetic dentist," and can hold himself or herself out as fully qualified to place them. We have heard many stories of patients who have been sorely disappointed with cosmetic dentistry mistakes at the hands of general dentists. Besides special bonding techniques that are required, the sophisticated color manipulation, smile design, and artistry required to do these properly are not required training of general dentists, and the creativity and sensitivity required can even be foreign to the personality styles of many dentists.