Dr. Hall,
How many veneers do people have to get to make all of their teeth look whiter?
– Bethany from Florida
Bethany,
The number of porcelain veneers required to do a smile makeover will vary from patient to patient, and you need to determine that in consultation with an expert cosmetic dentist with good artistic sense. One of the screening tools I use when I choose cosmetic dentists to recommend, when I examine their work, is to see how many teeth they have included in a smile makeover. Some dentists will treat someone and make their teeth distinctly whiter, and they will only treat the front six upper teeth. When I see that, I cross the dentist off.
Here are some guidelines:
When there is only a subtle color change, you can get by with veneering six teeth. Sometimes you can even get by with just four, because the canine teeth are naturally a little darker, so your smile will look natural even though nothing is done to the canines.
When there is a distinct color change, you need at least eight veneers on the upper, sometimes ten, sometimes twelve. You need to have someone look at your smile from the side and see how many teeth show. Any tooth that shows in a side view when you have a broad smile, needs to be treated.
Lower teeth can be left somewhat darker than upper teeth. These teeth, in a normal bite, will be overlapped by your upper teeth, and thus they tend to be in the shadows. So if they are darker than the uppers, that is usually okay, except for smiles that show a lot of lower teeth.
Also, you can reduce the number of teeth that need to be veneered by bleaching your teeth before getting porcelain veneers. You can bleach your back teeth and veneer the front ones, or you can bleach the lowers and just veneer the uppers.
Dr. Hall
About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
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