A close view of an upper smile after veneers

Ceramic veneers: a thin shell on the front of a tooth, and what is removed to fit it

A veneer is bonded to the front surface of a tooth after that surface has been minimally reduced. ONE Dental states it can complete the treatment in a single day. What comes off the tooth does not grow back.

How it is done here ONE Dental Clinic

The publisher is a registered patient facilitator, paid by clinics when a reader becomes a patient through its agency. How we make money

A laminate veneer treats teeth that are uneven in size, disproportionate in shape, or spaced apart at the front. The front surface of the tooth is finely reduced and a thin ceramic shell is bonded over it, in the way an artificial nail is applied. The clinic’s own comparison is exactly that, and it is a good one.

The sequence

The clinic states it can complete a veneer case in a single day through minimal reduction. The four steps are: consultation and diagnosis, checking the condition of the mouth, the tooth colour and the alignment; minimal preparation of the tooth followed by a precise impression; a removable temporary while the veneers are made; and bonding of the finished ceramic veneers, adjusted precisely and finished.

Ceramic

The material the clinic uses is high-strength ceramic, that is porcelain. The stated advantages are translucency and colour closest to a natural tooth, durability with more than ten years of service possible, and almost no staining, including from coffee and wine.

When it is used

The clinic lists six situations: a gap between the front teeth, decay in a front tooth, uneven alignment, discoloured teeth, damaged teeth, and teeth of unequal size.

Material: High-strength ceramic, porcelain.
Stated service life: Over ten years possible.
Staining: Almost none, including coffee and wine.
Stated treatment time: Achievable in a single day through minimal reduction.
Temporary: A removable temporary while the veneers are made.

Limits, risks and who this is wrong for

Preparing a tooth for a veneer is irreversible. Enamel does not regenerate, and the tooth will need a veneer or a crown for the rest of its life.

Veneers chip and debond. Ten years is a stated possibility, not a guarantee, and grinding your teeth shortens it considerably.

Veneers do not treat gum disease, decay under the tooth, or a bite problem, and placing them over any of those hides a problem rather than fixing it.

The clinic will show you photographs of its own past cases. Those are individual patients and are not a projection of your result: colour, gum height, lip line and the shape of your own teeth all differ. Ask to see the cases that were redone, not only the ones that were photographed.

Where the complaint is alignment rather than colour or shape, orthodontic treatment removes no tooth structure at all and should be discussed first.

Clinical photographs

Finished ceramic veneers held in the hand

Consultation and examination before veneers

Minimal preparation and impression taking

Shade matching as the ceramic veneers are bonded

A dentist holding a single ceramic veneer

The clinic supplied before-and-after photographs of this procedure. We do not publish them. Korean law prohibits before-and-after comparison images in medical advertising, and as a registered patient facilitator we are not an eligible medical advertiser at all, so a page of results here would be an offence before it was ever a persuasion. Ask the clinic to show you theirs, in the room, alongside the cases that did not go well.

This article is information, not medical advice, and reading it does not create a doctor-patient relationship. The Seoul Glow is a registered facilitator: we coordinate care, we do not practise medicine and we do not decide what treatment is right for you. No outcome can be guaranteed by anyone. Discuss any procedure with a licensed physician who has examined you.