How Many Dental Veneers Will You Need for a Smile Makeover?
In terms of a smile makeover, dental veneers offer a straightforward solution. Wafer-thin pieces of porcelain are fabricated to the desired shape and size before being adhered to the underlying teeth. It's a simple yet extremely effective form of cosmetic dentistry. But to achieve the smile you want, how many veneers will actually be needed?
A Single Veneer
The question of the number of required veneers is simple when only a single unit is to be attached. The veneer will have been fabricated (and colour matched) to act as a replacement surface for the underlying tooth (minus the aesthetic and/or structural issues that have resulted in the need for a veneer in the first place). It will be designed to blend seamlessly into your smile.
A Smile Makeover
It's when you opt for veneers for a smile makeover that the number of required units can be open to debate. Veneers are generally attached to your anterior teeth (your incisors and canine teeth), and you might have already come to your own decision as to how many will be needed. You might have determined the number of required veneers by simply smiling into a mirror and gauging how many of your anterior teeth are visible.
Teeth Numbers
Each permanent tooth in a human mouth has been assigned a number on the Universal Tooth Numbering System. Based upon your own mirror-based assessment, you might have concluded that you only need veneers on teeth 6 to 11, and 22 to 27. Based upon the Universal Tooth Numbering System, this would result in veneers being applied to your both your upper and lower canine and incisor teeth. But everyone's smile is different. Depending on the width of your smile, or simply the number of visible teeth when you laugh and talk, your first and even potentially your second premolars will be visible. This might not be evident based upon your own examination.
Primary and Secondary Premolars
The logical solution is to have veneers applied to any teeth that will be prominent when you smile. And yet depending on the prominence, your dentist might simply be able to whiten your primary and secondary premolars so that there is no colour discrepancy between your teeth that have been covered with a veneer and those that have not. From a cost perspective, this would be preferable, and yet it's something that needs to be considered to achieve the desired change to your smile.
So while your initial estimation as to how many veneers will be needed might need to be adjusted, the end result will be worthwhile.
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