AC Clarke

Veneers are usually associated with furniture, but recently the age old method of furniture making has been applied to teeth whitening. Teeth veneers are like false nails in some respects, and are just as effective and easy to apply. First of all your dentist will examine your teeth for other defects that they can also camouflage. Discolouration of the teeth enamel is just one aspect of what a veneer can disguise. The dentist will take digital photos of the teeth to get the shape, size and colour information for the orthodontist that will make the veneers for the specific client. Just one tooth or a whole row can be treated at the same time. The dentist will make the tooth or teeth numb, then they will shave off a small sliver of enamel to enable the veneer to have more adhesion to the tooth. The cementing of the veneer needs to be done professionally as infection can easily set in if the sides are not sealed properly, so a dentist really needs to be consulted for this procedure. There are two kinds of veneers to consider as well, the thinner more simplistic ones can last from 3-5 years, and are much more economical to have. Thicker ones are a bit more complicated though, but in saying that they are better for covering not just discoloured teeth, but chipped and cracked teeth as well. This type of veneer is thicker and much more pliable to wear and tear. They also need a lot more enamel taken off to facilitate the cementing. They can last as long as 10-15 years and just like the thinner ones they can be replaced one at a time. If veneers are not for you and you are looking at a cheaper method of teeth whitening, then a home kit may be of interest to you. This can be bought in most chemists shops and applied without any training at all, it consists of a simple application of a bleaching agent to the teeth, and it literarily dyes the teeth white. You have to make a mould first out of a solid rubber mouth shield, to do this you have to soften it in a bowl of hot water and then bite down and up on the shield. Then you just pour the bleaching agent into the mould and place on your teeth to change the colour to a brighter white.