Gallery

Before and After Examples

Patient #1

Before	After

Hard to believe this is the same mouth isn’t it? This patient has had some minor gum surgery to allow a fuller tooth shape and placement of 6 porcelain veneers on their upper anterior teeth.

Porcelain veneering requires two appointments. At the first appointment the teeth in question are ‘shaved’ a little to allow space for the porcelain veneer to be fitted once it has been made. After the teeth have been prepared a very accurate impression is taken of the teeth, from which the veneers are created. A further impression is taken of the opposing teeth so that the bite will be correct when the veneers are inserted. The impressions are sent to our laboratory where the veneers are fashioned. Generally veneers will take approximately 2 weeks to create. The patient returns to the clinic, where the dentist first polishes the prepared teeth & then ‘try’s in’ the veneers to ensure they are fit perfect and colour perfect. Once this has been done the veneers are cemented into place using a high quality dental material and a bright light to set the material. The teeth are checked again to make sure they are correct in the bite. Once this is all complete and both the patient and the dentist are happy with the result, the patient is free to leave.

Extra information:

Teeth that are to be veneered do not usually have ‘temporaries’ placed while we are waiting for the permanents to be made. The reason for this is that the teeth normally do not require them as very little of the tooth structure is actually removed, and also because removing the temporary veneers creates the possibility that the prepared area may be slightly damaged. Since we want the permanent veneers to fit as accurately as possible, we do avoid placing temporaries unless absolutely necessary.

Porcelain veneers may require some possible modifications in patient habits. The teeth that have been veneered should not be used for actions that could ‘shear’ off the veneer. Examples off this are: chewing on pens, biting cotton or fishing line, chewing fingernails. Biting into foods such as apples or carrots should also be avoided; instead the food should be cut into bite size pieces and eaten that way. These changes of habits are easily integrated and become new habits very quickly.

Veneering is certainly a fantastic option for many patients who want to improve their smile. If you’re wondering if it’s for you, please feel free to ask a member of your dental team if you would be a good candidate. The staff can also answer any enquiries you may have regarding costs involved and item numbers for claiming from your health fund.

Patient #2

Before	After

The work on this patient was completed using Composite Resin (Filling material) veneers.

This treatment was completed in a single one-hour appointment and involved 7 composite resin veneers.

When the patient left the surgery the work was complete and their new smile was ‘ready to go’.

Composite resin veneers can be a more cost effective way to veneer your teeth in the short term. The cost of each veneer is less than half the cost of porcelain veneers. The problem is that unlike porcelain veneers, that will never stain, composite resin veneers do discolour over time and will need to be replaced.

When requiring a number of veneers it can also be possible to have a combination of porcelain and composite veneers and replace the composite ones with porcelain over time. This can be extremely beneficial if claiming from your health fund, since most funds will not pay a benefit on numerous porcelain veneers in one year.

If this procedure is of interest to you, please feel free to ask one of your dental team about it to find out if you would be a suitable candidate for it.

Patient #3

Before	After

This patient had some extreme discolouration apparent on their upper anterior (front) teeth and also some unevenly shaped teeth. The lower teeth are also spaced unevenly.

Suggested Treatment Plan:

• Full mouth teeth bleaching.

• Veneer upper front 6 teeth to complete colour change and correct shape.

• Create the illusion of wider teeth on the lower using a combination of both white filling material and ‘pink’ filling material. With the ‘pink’ material we are able to create the look of actual gum rather than having great big ‘picket fence’ teeth. To our knowledge there are very few dentists actually using this technique, possibly because they are unaware of this product.

Further minor improvements can be done with some minimal reshaping by trimming the shapes of some of the teeth.

This ‘after’ picture has been digitally enhanced to show the patient what is possible cosmetically for their outcome. This patient is currently undergoing treatment with us and a ‘finished’ picture will be added when treatment is complete. The end result will be far better than this quickly mocked up picture, but does give patients a guide to what is achievable.