Tuesday, August 23, 2011
San Jose Cosmetic Dentist Discusses Shades of Porcelain Veneers
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA- Achieving a beautiful, natural smile with porcelain veneers is as much about shade as it is about shape and proportion.
The shade of a veneer can enable it to look natural, or make it stick out like a sore thumb if it varies too much in color from the rest of the teeth.
In an age where so many people undergo professional and over-the-counter teeth whitening treatments, it’s a good idea to consider long-term goals when choosing the proper veneer shade, said San Jose cosmetic dentist Dr. Khalil Sage. Porcelain veneers are thin sheets of porcelain that can be bonded to a tooth’s surface. Their color is permanent and cannot be altered by teeth whitening procedures.
“For that reason, we recommend patients undergo tooth whitening prior to getting porcelain veneers,” Sage said. “This way, we get the natural teeth looking their best prior to making any changes.”
This is particularly important for patients looking to drastically change the shade of their teeth with veneers. For example, due to their translucency, it would be difficult to place a veneer over a dark tooth without the darkness showing through. However, undergoing a tooth whitening procedure to lighten the dark tooth before applying the veneers would render better results.
The alternative to this would be having the dental laboratory fabricate the veneer to be more opaque. That would hinder the veneer from looking as natural as possible.
Patients often immediately opt for the brightest white shade of veneer available. This can be a huge mistake, since rarely do people have veneers put on all of their teeth. Instead, veneers usually are placed on the front teeth. Tooth colors varies from front to back teeth, and placing ultra-white veneers on the front teeth can make the color difference even more noticeable, Sage said.
When selecting shades, do so under natural light. Artificial room lighting often changes how a shade truly appears. Teeth are not monochromatic, so more than one color is used in making veneers. If needed, ask whether the dental laboratory offers custom staining - this helps to make them appear authentic, but for an added cost.
Selecting A Shade
It is important to use natural light when selecting veneer shades. Shades often look different under artificial lighting than natural light.
Most cosmetic dentists help patients select their veneer shades using some sort of guide. Among the most popular shade guide systems in cosmetic dentistry is the VITA 3D-Master Shade Guide. This guide allows dentists to precisely alter the color of individual teeth according to the three color determinants: value (or lightness), chroma and hue. This guide defines tooth color in four basic shade ranges:
A (reddish brown)
B (reddish yellow)
C (gray)
D (reddish gray)
In the A range there are five levels of darkness. Ranges B, C and D each have four levels, according to www.aboutcosmeticdentistry.com.
Choosing the appropriate tooth shade for a patient requires three steps with the VITA guide. First, the lightness is determined by choosing from one of five value groups. The chroma within the value group is selected from three choices. Finally, the hue is selected by determining if the tooth has a more yellow or red cast, the Vident site stated.
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