I have always wanted a prettier smile and I’d been saving up for porcelain veneers. I have discolored teeth and I have one crooked front tooth. It’s not that bad, but overlaps the other tooth a smidge at the bottom. I’d finally saved up enough and my dentist told me that I had to get Invisalign first to straighten out those two teeth and then I can get the porcelain veneers. I may have misunderstood, but I thought that porcelain veneers can make crooked teeth look straight. Was I wrong about that? Do I need both procedures?
Elaine
Dear Elaine,
You did not misunderstand. When a dentist is skilled in porcelain veneers they can make crooked teeth look straight. This is especially true with the type of misalignment you described. Your dentist is not comfortable doing this, so instead he is trying to get you to pay for another procedure so he can have an easier job in front of him.
Don’t pressure your dentist into doing the veneers though. When a dentist is forced out of their comfort zone, the results are rarely what you want. Instead, I see two good options for you.
Your first option is to go forward with porcelain veneers, but with a different dentist. Make sure you look at their smile gallery to see before and after pictures of cases they’ve actually done. Ask especially to see cases where the teeth were a little crooked before the veneers.
Your second option is to do Invisalign and teeth whitening. I only mention this because the only two things you mentioned wanting to fix about your teeth are the color and the crooked one in the front. Both of these can be taken care of with a lot lower of a cost to you just by using these two procedures instead. They can be done simultaneously as well because the Invisalign aligners can double as teeth whitening trays.
So when would you invest in porcelain veneers? These are more designed for someone who is looking for a complete smile makeover. They can not only change the color of your teeth, but their shape, size, and character as well.
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