Category: Dental Veneers

The cost of veneers varies depending on many factors. In this article, we will talk about these veneers – traditional porcelain veneers, composite veneers, CEREC veneers, and Lumineers veneers, although there aren’t that many other brands worth mentioning other than what we’ve just listed.

Porcelain Veneers Cost

What is the porcelain veneers average cost? Well, the cost of veneers made of porcelain is around $750-$2000 per one veneer. Expect higher prices in places like Beverly Hills (2000 dollars per one veneer) and lower costs in cities like Las Vegas And Austin (850-1200 dollars per veneer is the average). Veneers that are made of porcelain are incredibly durable, stain-resistant, and esthetic. You should be able to find plenty of dental offices that offer porcelain veneers as they are trendy.

There is one aspect you might not like about them, though, and that is the traditional methods of bonding porcelain veneers require your teeth to be ground beforehand. While the thickness of tooth enamel that gets shaved is usually around 0.5 mm, some dentists file more than that. There were instances where the amount of tooth removed was almost equivalent to the amount required for a dental crown – all for the sake of aesthetics and improved ease of application.

This is a permanent procedure, and the amount of removed tooth structure will not grow back. (For more information, refer to our porcelain veneers pros and cons article)

Composite Veneers Cost

How much are veneers made of composite material? Well, the prices of composite veneers are usually much lower than the prices of porcelain veneers – around $400 – $1500. Some dentists, though, will quote more than that because it is in their opinion that the difficulty of adequately applying these veneers to the teeth and the difficulty of getting the necessary accreditation from AACD justify the higher price (even though direct composite veneers are inferior to porcelain ones in almost all aspects). It is not surprising why many dentists don’t offer these composites anymore.

However, composite veneers do have certain advantages over their porcelain alternatives – the whole treatment can be completed in just one appointment, for example, and they can be easily altered and reshaped, unlike porcelain veneers. They also require no grinding of the tooth’s surface, which means that specific dental veneers problems, like gum diseases due to overexposure of the teeth and slight tooth sensitivity after the operation, are much less likely.

CEREC Veneers Cost

CEREC veneers are created with the help of specialized computer technology, which allows the veneers to be virtually modeled and designed on a computer. The time required to make the calculations and manufacture a CEREC veneer is approximately 4 hours. Of course, the amount of time depends on the proficiency of the dentist and how well he is accustomed to the technology. Patients who have had their teeth covered with CEREC veneers are usually delighted with the results.

The cost of CEREC veneers is usually lower than the price of porcelain veneers – around $400 to $1100 since the process of making them is often both faster and easier.

Lumineers Veneers Cost

Lumineers have been heavily advertised as veneers that do not require your teeth to be “ground,” and that can be applied directly to your teeth without removing a significant amount of tooth structure. Moreover, they need only two visits and dentists say that they are easier to bond than porcelain veneers. (according to Lumineers reviews, these claims are mostly accurate, although certain Lumineers problems do exist) As for the prices, the cost of Lumineers is a quarter less than the cost of porcelain veneers, which means that they are usually between $560 and $1500.

Different Types of Veneers

Composite Veneers vs. Porcelain Veneers

If we put composite veneers vs. porcelain veneers, we will see that they have many differences. To understand these differences, it is crucial that we first understand the differences between direct and indirect bonding (because veneers are a result of using the tooth bonding technique). When you want to fix the aesthetics of your teeth with tooth bonding, there are two ways to go about it – with an indirect and a direct technique.

When a dentist makes composite veneers, he uses the direct bonding technique. The composite material is bonded to the surface of the teeth. When we use composite veneers, the teeth do not need to be “shaved” and prepared, and the composite material is shaped in front of your eyes and bonded directly by the dentist to your teeth.

When a dentist wants to make porcelain veneers, he will use the indirect bonding technique. He doesn’t make the veneers himself but sends an impression of the teeth to a dental lab which manufactures the veneers. The teeth need to be prepared and “shaved” a bit, unlike when we use composite veneers.

Here is why porcelain veneers can be better:

• Composite veneers last for 2-5 years max and then need to be replaced. Porcelain veneers last up to 5 years.
• Composite material gets stained. Porcelain does not wear over time, and it can remain shiny indefinitely. While the early versions of porcelain were very brittle, but nowadays, the material is very sturdy.

Here is why composite veneers can be better:

• Composite veneers can be completed and given to you in the course of just one appointment. So, if you want to have porcelain veneers, you need to go through several appointments, because the dental lab needs time to finish the veneers for you.
• Composite veneers usually much cheaper, although there are dentists who will charge more for them just because they think that making these veneers consumes too much time.
• Composite veneers do not need your teeth to be prepared as much as they need to be prepared for porcelain veneers. Sometimes composite veneers can be applied without any teeth preparation at all.

Many cosmetic dentists will say that composite veneers have no real advantages over porcelain veneers. Surely, you can get composite veneers in just one appointment, and they require no preparation of your teeth, but dentists argue that these are pretty small advantages. Even the cost of veneers made of composite materials is not always cheaper.

Moreover, a lot of dentists will say that making composite veneers is too hard and consumes a lot of time. Indeed, to be successful with direct tooth bonding, a cosmetic dentist needs to possess a significant amount of patience, skill, and good artistic vision.

It seems, however, that there are dentists who will defend the no-prep veneers. The only reason why a lot of dentists do not like composite veneers is that they are not “cost-effective.” While the cost of making them is lower, which is good, on the one hand, but the time that is needed to ensure the creation of good-looking ones is too much, and the effort-to-reward ratio is just not satisfactory so relegating the task of manufacturing veneers to dental labs is preferred (time is money in the world of dentistry). The argument that tries to defend the composite veneers states that there is a more streamlined and straight-forward method, usable by both novice and experienced cosmetic dentists, that can deal with this deficiency.

Whether it is possible to repair chipped porcelain veneers depends on how severe the fracture or the chip is on these veneers. When your veneer has chipped, you definitely need to see your dentist.

How Large is the Chip?

If the chip is very small, then the repair is possible by bonding composite material to fill in the gap in your veneer. Whether the replacement will last or not, depends a lot on the skill of your dentist. The filling should not be noticeable if done by a good dentist.

If the chip is extremely large, your dentist will probably advise you to either get a new veneer or a dental crown altogether. Of course, it is still possible to bond composite material to fill in the gap, but it will not last for long given how large the area that needs to be covered is, as, after all, composite material is weaker than porcelain. The composite filling, in this case, may be used as a temporary solution – just to cover your teeth for long enough until you have decided to replace them with real veneers.

(If you have several veneers, however, your dentist may face the challenge of making your new veneer match the color of your old ones. That again emphasizes the importance of finding a good cosmetic dentist.)

Do also note that the cost of veneers will be the same as when you got them the first time.

Why do Chips Occur?

Porcelain is usually a very sturdy material. However, that doesn’t mean that your veneer won’t chip or fracture if it is hit with strong enough force.

Also, if you’re wearing veneers, you should avoid eating apples and similar types of food that require your teeth to exert a strong physical force (also, avoid opening bottles with your veneers and similar silly acts).

Patients who suffer from bruxism or those who are involved in contact sports need to wear special protective mouthguards if they don’t want to damage their veneers.

How much will the Repair Cost?

Colored tooth filling will cost $150 or so. You may also have to pay for temporary veneers if they are used. Also, your dental insurance can cover the cost of veneers repair. Yes, they don’t cover porcelain veneers and cosmetic dentistry costs, but they do cover repairs and replacements of defective dental works (a kind of a loophole).

Your dentist may agree to repair your veneer free of charge.

Will my Dentist Get Mad?

Now, if you accidentally damaged your veneers your dentist will not get mad. The occurrences of chipped porcelain veneers and dental veneers problems are not that rare, after all.

You may, however, find it difficult to repair your veneer if the chip of the veneer occurred during the days when your dentist is not available – for example, during a weekend. If you must repair your veneer immediately, know that there are always other dental offices that will accept you. Call all the dental offices in your area, and you will most likely find one that will agree to fix your veneers.

How Do Veneers Work?

So, how do veneers work and what are the exact steps involved in the procedure of creating and bonding them? You’ve probably seen the veneers before and after pictures in various advertisements – the results that you see in these pictures are surely very attractive, but you may want to know what the actual procedure looks like, too.

Before that, let’s see what a veneer is. The first thing that came to our mind was to use a dictionary, and here is the first definition of the word “veneer” : a thin surface layer, as of finely grained wood, glued to a base of inferior material – pretty closely describes what a dental veneer is, actually, except that a dental veneer is a thin layer of dental material bonded to the teeth, the aesthetics of which you want to improve.

Veneers can be used to make your stained yellow teeth appear more white – they are quite effective at that, too. They are also used to fix teeth that are a little bit out of their position, just like what braces are used for, except that veneers are not really straightening teeth but more like “covering” them to make them appear straight – for that reason, certain skeletal defects or heavier defects of your teeth position should still be addressed by orthodontic procedures. Shortly speaking, the most common types of teeth problems that veneers fix are – crooked teeth, chipped teeth, tetracycline stains or discoloration of the teeth, unwanted space between the teeth, and several others.

Again, veneers are thin layers made of either porcelain or composite (see our composite veneers vs porcelain veneers article), bonded to the teeth using either indirect tooth bonding technique, in the case of porcelain veneers, or direct tooth bonding technique, in the case of composite veneers. We would highly encourage patients to pick porcelain veneers, if they can afford them, for a  very simple reason – they are just better than composite veneers. The process of making and bonding porcelain veneers onto the teeth roughly consists of the following steps:

1. You arrive at a dental office, and a cosmetic dentist (we don’t recommend getting veneers done by a family or a general dentist) examines the state of your teeth, listens to and notes your dental needs, tells you what you should expect from dental veneers and if they are really the best choice for you.
2. The tooth preparation stage is the next stage. During it, you will get numbed with an anesthetic, and your teeth will get shaved a little bit so that veneers can be attached to their surface. Approximately 0.5 mm is a good estimate of the thickness of enamel that will be removed, but it varies from case to case (and from one cosmetic dentist to another).
3. The next step is to take an impression mold of your teeth. As it has been said, to apply porcelain veneers, the indirect bonding technique, where the veneers are not made by dentists (unlike when they make composite veneers), but by dental labs, is used. The dentist only sends the impression mold to a dental lab.
4. The time needed for the dental lab to complete your veneers is approximately 1-2 weeks. There is a common practice of applying temporary veneers to cover your vulnerable exposed teeth during that period.
5. When the veneers are completed and arrive at your dentist’s office, you will have a chance to try them on, and your cosmetic dentist will trim and reshape them, if necessary. Then, the cosmetic dentist will prepare the veneers for the bonding stage and glue them to your teeth using special dental cement. Lastly, the bonding is activated by special curing light to make the grip permanent. If the veneers are badly done, the cosmetic dentist should remake them, and this extra service should be included in the original cost of veneers, of course.