How Long Do Veneers Last?

 Your teeth play a vital role in your ability to consume food, how you speak, and your overall oral health. While similar to bone, teeth aren’t living tissue. Bone is made of a dense, self-healing material, which helps shape it throughout your life, and uses marrow to produce red blood cells that carry oxygen to many areas of your body. 

Teeth are made up of four different materials, including:

• Enamel
• Dentin
• Cementum
• Pulp

Together, they help you eat and speak, but cannot heal themselves. Once your permanent teeth fall out, they’re gone.

This makes caring and protecting your teeth very important, since once they’re damaged they don’t heal. 

Veneers are tooth-colored dental prosthetics that help protect teeth that are cracked, chipped, or otherwise damaged. To better understand the advantages of veneers and how long they can help, let’s look at how they work to protect your mouth, what types are available, and how long they last.

For professional care to help protect your teeth, reach out to Drs. Sangeeta and Ramji Sethi and our skilled dental team at Sethi Dental. We have practices in the Pomona and Bronx, New York, areas, and Greenwich, Connecticut, where we offer our expertise in veneers.

How veneers work

Once your teeth are damaged, they may appear discolored, crooked, or chipped. This can affect how other people see your teeth and increases the chance for pulp infection and other serious oral health issues.

Veneers are prosthetic shells that cover the damage to your tooth. To begin your treatment, we first remove a small section of enamel from your tooth to make room for the veneer we place with a dental adhesive. The end result helps reduce the appearance of tooth discoloration, decay, crookedness, cracks, chips, and gaps.

The different types of veneers

Veneers can be made from two materials:

Porcelain

This is a strong material that can easily be made to look like your other teeth, and are good for resisting stains. They are extremely durable and an excellent choice for restoration.

Composite resin

The composite material used to make veneers is similar to porcelain, but is less expensive to produce, takes less time to fabricate, and is less invasive. However, it’s more likely to chip or break than porcelain.

Both are viable options, and the choice often boils down to appearance, longevity, the time it takes to be applied, and dental recommendations.

How long they last

Veneers don’t prevent cavities, so your teeth still need to be cared for. If you practice good oral hygiene, and avoid things like biting down on hard objects, grinding teeth, and using a mouthguard, our veneers can last 10-15 years. 

Improper tooth care can cause them to need replacing sooner, so be sure to brush and floss twice a day with your new veneers. Despite porcelain veneers being stain resistant, you should avoid coffee, tea, red wine, and other foods and drinks that may stain your teeth.

Veneers can make damaged teeth look their best and last you for years to come. If you’re ready to see what veneers can do for you, make an appointment with the Drs. Sangeeta and Ramji Sethi at Sethi Dental today to get started.