At What Age Can You Have Porcelain Veneers?
Posted by writeradmin
I have had extensive dental work and my teeth are finally healthy. There are also white spots from wearing braces twice. I’m ready now to get them to look beautiful. They are stained and several are chipped. I’m looking at porcelain veneers. Is there a certain age you have to be in order for veneers to be an option for you?
Perry
Dear Perry,
I am glad you wrote. First, congratulations on getting all your teeth healthy. That is a huge accomplishment. the white spots that you are experiencing after braces are decalcification spots. It’s often hard to get the teeth completely cleaned with all of those metal wires and brackets. The result of that is the white spots, which can lead to decay if the teeth don’t get worked on. It sounds like you’ve done the work.
As far as porcelain veneers go, the important part is that your teeth are fully erupted. For almost everyone, this happens by the time that you are eighteen years old. If you do it before then, you’ll have to worry about the teeth erupting further, which will leave a gap between your veneers and the gumline, which leaves you vulnerable to decay.
One thing that you will want to make sure of is that when you have them done, you go to an expert cosmetic dentist. There is not a recognized specialty in cosmetic dentistry. You’ll have to do some research. You want to look for a dentist who has post-doctoral training in placing porcelain veneers. You will also want to look at their smile gallery, which means that you’ll ask to see images of cases they’ve done in order to make sure that they produce beautiful results.
You’ll want to make sure that you either have enough porcelain veneers to cover the esthetic zone of your smile, meaning all the teeth visible when you smile. For most patients, that is eight to ten teeth. If that is more veneers than you can afford, you can have teeth whitening done ahead of time so that the adjacent teeth will blend in with the ones you had veneered.
This blog is brought to you by Mt. Dora Dentist Dr. Michelle Stillman.