When you’re unhappy with the appearance of your smile, you may notice yourself avoiding smiling or showing your teeth on any occasion. Not being happy with the way your teeth look can have detrimental impacts on your confidence. However, there are easy ways you can transform your smile so that you’ll never want to stop smiling. Dental veneers are an amazing way to completely makeover your mouth and give yourself the smile you’ve always dreamed about.

Dental veneers can help amend a range of dental concerns such as:

  • Discoloured teeth
  • Chipped teeth
  • Broken teeth
  • The shape of your teeth

At Mermaid Smiles, we offer a range of veneer options to help you create a dream smile that suits your budget. Before getting dental veneers, you should complete research as well as consult your dentist, to ensure it’s the right treatment plan for you. Seeing before and after photos of the work your chosen dentist has done before is also very important, as not all veneers are created equal. To help you out we’ve highlighted important information about the process to help you make the right decision for your smile.

Dental Veneers: What Are They?

Dental veneers are thin, tooth-coloured shells or coverings that are placed on the surface of your teeth. They’re most commonly made from porcelain or composite material and are designed to improve the overall appearance of your smile. They can help brighten your smile, smooth out uneven surfaces or help enhance the appearance of your natural smile.

Veneers work by removing a slight layer off the surface of your teeth to make room for the veneer without affecting the nerves or strength of your teeth. When considering dental veneers, it’s important to know that you don’t have to completely transform each tooth, you can select particular teeth to treat if you wish. When designing your smile with your dentist, you have full control over how you would like the end result to look, with advice from your dentist. You can choose to match the veneers to your current tooth colour or go a few shades whiter for a brighter smile – the choice is up to you!

Types of Dental Veneers

There are various types of dental veneers you can choose from but at Mermaid Smiles we offer both porcelain and composite veneers. If you’re after a full smile transformation for multiple teeth, we recommend porcelain veneers. Our porcelain veneers are handcrafted by expert ceramists to mimic the exact shape, colour, and translucency of natural teeth. Porcelain veneers are applied over multiple appointments. The first appointment prepares your teeth and involves digital scans and impressions to design your new smile, and the second is the official application.

Our composite veneers are a same-day option if you’re looking to restore only a few select teeth. These same-day restorations are shaped chairside and applied to your teeth all within the same appointment. As they are a different material to porcelain these types of veneers are ideal for minor, temporary changes.

Advantages of Dental Veneers

There is a range of advantages to getting dental veneers. One of the biggest advantages is that they are relatively non-invasive and are a less painful and quicker process than braces or other orthodontic treatments. Porcelain veneers also aren’t totally permanent as they need to be replaced every 10 – 15 years, meaning you can slightly tweak your smile if you wish over time.

Dental veneers are also the ultimate solution if you struggle with whitening your teeth. Unfortunately, certain stains or tooth discolourations can’t be removed with basic teeth whitening, however, with veneers you can customise the shade of your teeth. Porcelain veneers are also stain-resistant which means you won’t have to worry about the colour changing. Composite veneers aren’t completely stain resistant like porcelain, but they are still able to make your teeth appear brighter and whiter than whitening alone.

In certain cases, dental veneers can also be used to improve the appearance of crooked or misaligned teeth, without having to undergo specific tooth straightening treatments. However, this isn’t always the case for everyone, so it’s important to chat to your dentist to learn how dental veneers can help your teeth specifically.

The Process of Getting Dental Veneers

  1. Initial Consultation & Smile Planning

The first step to getting your dental veneers is booking in a consultation with your dentist. During this appointment, your dentist will analyse your teeth. Afterwards, they’ll sit down with you and discuss your dream smile and work with you as to how they’re going to create it. At Mermaid Smiles we offer an experience known as Digital Smile Design. This helps create a digital version of what your dream smile will look like that can be used to place over your natural teeth, giving an exciting preview of what you can expect.

2. Tooth Impressions & Preparation

The second step is different depending on which type of dental veneers you decide on. If you choose our composite veneers, these are handcrafter crafted chairside, directly onto your teeth, and applied during the same appointment. For porcelain veneers, your second appointment will involve preparing your natural teeth for the veneers and taking impressions or digital scans of your teeth. These then get sent away to have your veneers custom-made. You will leave this appointment with your temporary smile design to trial the customised shape of your new veneers for a few weeks while your porcelain ones are being created.

3. Application

The third appointment is the most exciting when it comes to porcelain veneers, your new smile is officially created and ready for you to wear! This procedure is minimally invasive so there is nothing to worry about, anything that may be slightly uncomfortable you won’t feel as the area is numbed with a local anaesthetic.

Where Can You Get Dental Veneers?

Ready to get the smile you’ve always dreamed about? We are here to help. Our team of experienced cosmetic dentists here at Mermaid Smiles are ready and waiting to help design your dream smile. Don’t wait any longer, book your appointment with one of our dentists today.