One of the reasons why porcelain veneers make for the best cosmetic rejuvenations of your smile is their potential to be very long-lasting. Ten years should be a given, with 15 or 20 years being quite reasonable. But not everyone’s veneers last as long as they should. Here are six reasons why veneers tend to fail early and how you can avoid being one of those unlucky people.

 

Your Dentist

When choosing a cosmetic dentist, you need to make sure you’re choosing one who is really well experienced in the procedure of placing porcelain veneers. This is not something every dentist does on a regular basis, so it’s important to talk to a potential dentist about their training and experience with the procedure. Also look at before and after pictures to see whether a dentist achieves quality results.

Bruxism

Bruxism–teeth clenching and grinding–is more likely to damage your veneers than anything else. Even if you have a good dentist who places your veneers properly, if you are biting down too hard and clenching your teeth all night, you are likely to damage your veneers, though often a bite guard can protect them.

TMJ is a bite problem that can also lead to irregular bite forces. It can make you bite down harder than you should–harder than you know, which, of course, can lead to chipped veneers.

Bad Habits

Porcelain veneers are hard and strong enough to handle all the foods you normally eat, but they aren’t designed for chewing other things. Biting fingernails, pen tops, ice cubes, nutshells, and other hard, nonfood objects will cause your veneers to fracture or separate from your teeth.

Abrasive Toothpaste

We’ve talked before about the importance of toothpaste as part of protecting your porcelain veneers. Your veneers are highly stain resistant thanks to the glaze that is fired onto them. This glaze prevents staining compounds from penetrating into the veneers, but the glaze is also vulnerable to scratching. If you use a highly abrasive toothpaste, you’ll scratch the glaze off, and that can make your veneers look very unattractive.

Sports

If you play any kind of competitive sport, you should wear a mouthguard to help protect your porcelain veneers. Even if your sport is supposedly non contact. There’s really no such thing in competitive, even recreational sport. Someone will want to win too badly, and that’s when things get rough. Your mouthguard will help prevent that rough play from destroying your veneers.

Decay

Veneers are bonded to the front of your teeth. They cover all the visible surfaces of your teeth, but not the entire tooth. Your teeth are still vulnerable to decay if they’re not properly cared for. And when the tooth begins to decay, the veneer may have to be removed.

The good news is that these are all largely preventable causes of dental veneer failure. If you take care of your veneers–and choose the right cosmetic dentist–you can expect a long life for your veneers. To meet with a Savannah cosmetic dentist at Beyond Exceptional Dentistry and learn how we can help you get long-lasting porcelain veneers, please call (912) 234-8282 for an appointment.