Fixing Porcelain Veneers

Porcelain veneers were first being used for cosmetic dental restoration in the 1980’s and have grown in popularity ever since.  They are effective in enhancing the appearance of teeth that are discolored, crooked, chipped, uneven, or have too much gum exposed.  The veneering procedure involves creating the veneers tailored to your individual specification, and then cementing them on your teeth with a strong adhesive.

Once on, porcelain veneers can last for a relatively long time – on average up to 10 years before they need replacement – although if done and maintained properly, veneers can last a lifetime.  When they have been attached, veneers are meant to stay there until they need replacement, however, factors can arise that require porcelain veneers to be repaired.  Such factors may include:   

    * Veneer not fitted properly resulting in discomfort
    * Veneer color does not match rest of the teeth
    * Veneer coming off since adhesive was not strong enough

Generally these things do not occur when an experienced dentist performs the procedure.  These dentists normally collaborate with a good lab that produces the veneers, and are strict about doing a diagnostic wax-up of the proposed veneers to achieve a more ideal outcome.  However, with the rising demand of porcelain veneers, many dentists are now performing the procedure.  Unfortunately, many of these dentists do not have the skill level to treat simple or moderate to advanced veneer cases and consequently end up with less than acceptable results - leading to the aforementioned problems.  Today, many experienced cosmetic dentists find themselves fixing someone else’s mistakes.

That is why it is absolutely essential to select a dentist with extensive veneering experience to either put in or repair veneers!

If the veneer has simply come off on its own, the dentist will generally take a quick inspection to see if it needs refurbishing before bonding it back onto your teeth.  Bonding porcelain to teeth is a technically sensitive procedure. If the surfaces are not properly treated and free of contaminants such as oil, water or saliva, there will be a bond failure.  If a porcelain veneer has broken, there is no way for your dentist to repair it.  Unfortunately the only option will be to make a new porcelain veneer.

Old veneers can removed, but is very tedious if they were bonded correctly although in many cases, veneers can be easily removed by notching them and they pop off.  Veneer needs to be taken off to repair it (color and/or shape), or to shave off some of your enamel to make the veneer fit more comfortably.