I am twenty-two years old and have had my braces off for several years. Despite that, there is still a slight gap between my front teeth. I would like to get some porcelain veneers because I also have some chips and have always thought my teeth were too short. My dentist hinted I may be too young for porcelain veneers and to wait until I was 25. If I am too young, should I try to get Invisalign to close the little gaps? Or maybe dental crowns because my dentist said that could make the teeth longer?
Melanie
Dear Melanie,
I fear that your dentist is steering your toward dental crowns because he knows how to do those. Doing dental crowns is taught to every dentist. However, advanced cosmetic work, such as porcelain veneers, has to be learned after dental school in post-doctoral training. If the teeth are healthy, grinding them down for dental crowns makes no sense.
There is a second factor here. Just because he can do dental crowns, doesn’t mean they will look beautiful or natural. Most dentists will just use a standard shade guide. With back teeth, that is fine. But, with front teeth, there is a lot more that goes into making it look natural and matching the other teeth perfectly.
Invisalign, while a great option for straightening teeth, is not great a closing those tiny spaces left after braces. That is because those tend to open back up fairly quickly after you stop orthodontics. You could have some direct dental bonding placed there to close the gap, but they tend to pick up stains quickly and will have to be replaced more than you’d like.
Your best option to deal with all the issues you described including the lengthening of your teeth is to get porcelain veneers. Plus, they are even more stain resistant than your natural teeth and should last for many years.
So, what about the age issue? The fact is, that once your teeth are fully erupted, which generally happens around the age of 18, you are old enough for porcelain veneers. The caveat will be to find a dentist who can provide you with a beautiful result. You do not want to end up as one of those cosmetic dentistry horror stories.
Look at their smile gallery, which contains before and after pictures of cosmetic work they’ve done. Look specifically at their porcelain veneers cases. If they’re not stunning, find someone else to do them. If a dentist does not have a smile gallery on their website, then they don’t do enough cosmetic work to be good at it.
I hope this helps.
This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.