One of the most common questions we get asked in the consultation is ‘will my teeth get shaved down to stumps?’ ‘how much of my teeth get removed?’ ‘are your natural teeth filed into little triangles?’

So we thought we’d provide of our knowledge and hopefully allay some of these concerns.

An important process of porcelain veneers involves some sort of shaping of the teeth. If it didn’t then you’d end up with bulky and thick veneers which is not what we want! How much shaping depends on whether we are adding volume to the smile or whether we are tucking in the teeth.

The most common areas where we add volume is the side teeth (the 4th and 5th teeth) where you might have a narrow smile.

If your teeth naturally incline outwards or protrude and you wanted to straighten them by changing their position, then the process would involve more shaping. Whereas if the smile naturally inclines inwards and you wanted to fix the alignment of the teeth so that they’re nice and even, then the process would involve adding volume to the teeth and therefore not require much shaping to the teeth themselves.

Other factors include things like: Are your front teeth healthy or do you have old fillings? Is your smile crooked?

Regardless of whether or not certain teeth need to be shaped, our cosmetic dentist is very conservative and only shapes what is required to get the best cosmetic outcome.

Note: All content and media on the Dental & Skin Clinic website and social media channels are created and published online for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.

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