Smile...It Increases Your Face Value :)

As I said in last week's blog, I finally decided to get veneers on my teeth (read last weeks blog). As I have gone through the process, I wanted to share my experiences and insight. 

Lets start at the end: Now that I have them on, how do I feel?

It has been three days since I got the Frontier Veneers.  Every day so far, someone has pulled me aside and asked me why I look so much younger :).  A good stroke to the ego.

I have been surprised at how it has changed my face. In a positive way - friendlier, more approachable. I work out  - cycling, yoga, weights - 3 to 5 times a week. All those hours combined have not produced the same reaction as I have received within 3 days of my new smile.

You do have to get used to them as my teeth are longer than before - by about 1.5 mm. That's because I hardly showed any teeth when I spoke and the extra 1.5 mm now shows when I am speaking. Again, this changes your youthfulness dramatically. 

How was the experience:

It was a total of 6 hours on a dental chair to "prep" my upper and lower teeth and about the same to "insert" the Frontier Veneers. People who know me are stunned - I have never sat that long in my life! That was the hardest part for me. The TV in my dentist's office helped but it was a long day. I wont lie...I used my blackberry to type messages while I was on the chair.

My dentist was great - she was very caring, methodical, and given she is an instructor at the California Center For Advanced Dental Studies (CCADS),  she definitely knew her stuff. I can't emphasize how proper training and experience is critical when selecting a dentist. One has to have the eye for aesthetics, the training and experience, and the relationship with a highly experienced dental laboratory like Frontier Dental Laboratory. 

Why is the dental lab important?

Most people don't even know what a dental laboratory is. I  do because at one point, I owned one of the largest groups of dental labs across North America ( I have since sold that business and now focus on Frontier).  Dental labs have dental technicians who manually fabricate "restorations" - crowns, veneers, etc... from molds of a patient's teeth that are sent to the lab by your dentist. Labs have two types of technicians - engineer types that focus on the substructure of your restorations and artists that turn the substructure into individual sculptures that look like natural teeth. These restorations are what people see when you smile so their work IS the smile. 

What makes a good cosmetic lab? 

Time, Talent, Training, Experience - They have to take their time with your case, they have to have talented technicians, they have to have the training and most importantly, they have to have the experience. Because the quality that makes your veneers last are hidden - making sure there are no micro fractures in the substructure, making sure that the different porcelains bond together properly, evaluating that the occlusion - how your teeth interact with each other and your jaw -  you can't see this stuff and it requires thousands of units to get good at it.  On top of that, the right look is about subtleties.  

The problem is that most labs never get enough experience in cosmetic dentistry - many labs  are just too small to have the number of smile design focused restorations to get good at it.  A lab's production is typically measured at around 3 units per day per employee. Most labs have 5 employees.  Eighty to ninety percent of their work is toothache dentistry - replacing single teeth with crowns.  That means that to get a minimum of 10,000 units of experience can take them up to 15 -30 years. As a patient, do you want to take that chance? 

Cosmetic labs like Frontier are few and far between. They are focused on smile design - designing a smile that meets a person's objectives and the fashion of their choice. They go through more smile design cases in a day than most labs do in a year. It is unique in the industry.  The key is not only making the veneers look good (which changes with each person's taste) but what lies beneath. It is all about the subtleties. 

What makes a good cosmetic dentist?

I get asked this a lot!!

In my opinion.........

I will touch on this next week. I am sure it will be controversial.  

Below are non-professional pictures of my smile makeover to chronicle the process.

My dentist originally suggested orthodontics first (ie. braces or the like) but I declined it. I would prefer to compromise a bit on the result for the convenience of almost instant gratification (and less impact on my busy schedule).

Here is a cast of my teeth prior to any treatment. Notice that the two front teeth - called "Centrals" - are shorter than the teeth beside it. 

These are called Waxups - they are wax mock-ups of what your teeth can look like after the veneers are in place.  You can play around with different shapes of teeth to see how they would look. 

Waxup of my lower teeth

These are how my teeth looked after they were "prepped" - the surface of my teeth were skimmed with a dental burr to create room for veneers and to give room for the veneers to be angled inwards. The lower teeth were prepped  more than the upper teeth because I wanted my teeth tucked in as they were flaring out. I did NOT have to walk around like this. Temporary veneers are placed over your teeth while the final ones are fabricated. Temporaries allow you to play around with shapes and looks.

These are pictures of Frontier Veneers that were eventually bonded on to my natural teeth. They are very thin thus the yellow color of the stone shows through. I selected a color much whiter than my natural shade - they just appear yellowish in the pictures ( I chose an A1 and A2 shade).

These Frontier Veneers are made by some very talented artists.  They use porcelain powders to create these individual sculptures that appear like real teeth. Frontier Veneers are considered among the best in the world because of the talent and experience that these artists have.

The final product - you can notice that the front teeth are now larger than the original to create  a friendlier, more approachable look. My teeth were also lengthened by about 1.5 mm so that my teeth would show when I speak.

As for my before and after pictures, well you will have to wait .... All I know is I can't stop smiling :)