cosmetic dentistry
Porcelain veneers, planned with restraint.
Porcelain veneers are wafer-thin facings cemented over the visible side of a tooth, and a single one can update shape, surface, and color all at once. Placed thoughtfully across a handful of teeth, they can erase a gap, restore edges shortened by wear, and finally retire a self-consciousness about your smile you may have carried for decades.
The process runs across two or three appointments spread over a few weeks at our Medical Park Drive office — first design and preview, then tooth preparation with temporaries, and finally the permanent porcelain goes on. Pricing turns on the number of teeth involved and the job the porcelain has to accomplish; you'll have that figure in writing at your consultation, ahead of any treatment.
Designed before they're made
Three variables decide whether a veneer case succeeds: bite, balance, and color. Your dentist studies the way your teeth come together, how your lip moves over your smile, and where your midline falls relative to your face. Photographs plus an iTero digital scan allow the proposed shapes to be drafted on screen, and nothing goes to the lab until you've reviewed that design and signed off on it.
In cases where it's useful, a trial mock-up rides along for a few days — you drive with it, speak with it, eat with it, and get acquainted with the new shape. That's the stage when adjustments cost nothing to make, which means the porcelain placed at your last appointment is a design you've approved not once but twice.
Veneers, bonding, or whitening — choosing well
Not every cosmetic concern needs porcelain. Small chips and narrow gaps often live in bonding territory; broad color change starts with professional whitening. Veneers earn their place when the goal is a unified reshaping and re-coloring of the front of your smile that holds up for many years.
With traditional veneers, a conservative layer of the tooth's surface is reshaped so the porcelain seats properly — the better route when the color shift is significant, when old fillings are present, or when more substantial recontouring is the goal. Prepless veneers, done with little or no drilling, carry their own case-selection discipline and their own page on this site. Veneers are also a signature of this practice: our founder, Dr. James Willis, limits his clinical work to cosmetic dentistry, and select veneer cases are arranged with him through a consult with Dr. Podbesek.
Questions we hear in the chair
- How long do porcelain veneers last?
- Ten to fifteen years is typical with normal care, often longer. Porcelain resists stain better than natural enamel; what shortens its life is grinding — which is why a night guard is part of the conversation for anyone who does.
- How many veneers do I need?
- Only as many as your goal genuinely requires. That might mean a single veneer blended seamlessly into the teeth on either side; more often it means six or eight across the smile line. You'll get the precise answer during the design phase, and the written plan names each tooth involved along with the reasoning.
- Do veneers ruin your teeth?
- With the traditional approach, some reshaping of the surface is permanent — typically under half a millimeter of enamel, and we name that plainly because it is a real commitment. Beneath properly bonded porcelain, the tooth itself remains healthy and vital. And if that permanence is what's holding you back, prepless veneers — which leave the enamel untouched — are worth a conversation.
- Whitening first or veneers first?
- If both are on your list, the whitening happens before the veneers, every time. Porcelain can't be bleached, so the veneer shade gets matched to where your natural teeth will settle. That ordering is built into your plan — you don't have to manage it.
- Will my veneers look natural?
- When the case is planned with restraint, yes. Veneers here are designed around your face shape, your lip line, and the smile you actually want — not an off-the-rack look. The digital preview and mock-up stage exist so you can judge that for yourself before committing.
Clinical content reviewed by Dr. Brian Podbesek, Lead Dentist.
On Medical Park Drive since 2014. .