Dental Veneer Care 101: 5 Tips for Maintaining Your Hollywood Smile

Looking for a way to deal with stained or yellowing teeth so you can flash a gorgeous smile worthy of being photographed at a Hollywood red carpet event?

If you answered “yes,” then you probably need to choose a cosmetic dentistry solution that can help you.

There are many kinds of procedures that help improve the appearance of teeth. However, there’s one that’s most effective for stained or yellow teeth: veneers.

Porcelain dental veneers are wafer-thin shells attached to teeth’s surfaces to change their appearance. Once bonded with the choppers, veneers can help change their color, size, shape, or length.

And, like other forms of cosmetic dentistry solutions, they require care in order to last and be effective in serving their purpose. This means you have to clean your teeth with dental veneers regularly. Otherwise, you might see tartar and plaque buildup that may cause the deterioration of the shell and your teeth.

To ensure that your veneers last as long as they should, you must follow these five tips in caring for your Hollywood smile:

1.   Maintain Proper Oral Hygiene

Proper oral hygiene is crucial in keeping your teeth and mouth healthy, but regular brushing and flossing become even more important when you have dental veneers.

Although the shells themselves don’t decay, there are parts of the teeth that are still exposed, which means they can still be at risk of tooth decay. Just make sure that you ask for guidance from your dentist when it comes to brushing your teeth with veneers properly.

Essentially, the most challenging part of oral hygiene with porcelain veneers is brushing and flossing. Remember that cleaning your teeth quite vigorously can cause the thin shells to crack or get chipped. Dentists can show you how to clean your teeth thoroughly without damaging your dental hardware.

2.   Use the Right Cleaning Tools

Aside from changing the way you brush and floss your teeth, you might also need to change the tools and cleaning products you use when you have porcelain veneers. This is because some toothbrushes and toothpaste can speed up the deterioration of the dental hardware.

For example, hard-bristled toothbrushes can scratch the polished surface of your veneers. This is especially true if you tend to brush your teeth aggressively.

As for the toothpaste, some products are too abrasive for porcelain veneers since they are made to get rid of surface stains on the teeth. There are even those that have gritty bits that can damage the polished surface of the hardware.

Keep in mind that when a dentist picks veneers, he carefully matches them to the teeth around the area it would be installed in. This will help the hardware blend in with the rest of your choppers to give you a perfect smile.

With this in mind, it is best that you use a soft-bristled brush and a whitening toothpaste for oral hygiene. This will help prevent your natural teeth from staining and maintain the same color as the veneers over time. In fact, whitening toothpaste can aid in preventing surface staining on the hardware themselves.

To be sure, ask your dentist for recommendations on what products to use for your Hollywood smile.

3.   Avoid Teeth Grinding or Clenching

Aside from knowing the right way to clean your Hollywood teeth, you must also get rid of nasty habits that can cause damage to them. This includes teeth grinding or clenching.

Although these habits should be stopped regardless of the presence of the hardware, it is twice as important when you have porcelain veneers since the constant impact and friction between the teeth can lead to severe damage to the porcelain.

If you have these habits before getting veneers, be sure to talk to your dentist about it. He might be able to provide guidance on how to stop these habits before they do the worst to your teeth and veneers.

4.   Be Picky with What You Eat

Almost all porcelain veneers are made to resist stains, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can eat whatever you want when you have them. In fact, the adhesive used to attach the hardware in place is still susceptible to discoloration and staining.

Remember that exposing your porcelain veneers to the same food and drinks that stained your teeth in the first place means you only wasted the money you spent.

To make sure that this isn’t the case, here are the foods and beverages you must be wary of when wearing porcelain veneers:

●      Dark-colored drinks

Whether you like it or not, drinks will still pass through your teeth, making them a potential cause of stains and discoloration. When you have porcelain veneers, avoid drinking dark-colored drinks like red wine, black tea, and coffee, among others. These drinks have a dark hue that may transfer to and stain the surrounding areas of the veneers.

●      Hard-to-chew foods

Some food items are so hard that they can cause the wafer-thin veneer shells to crack. These include crusted bread, toast, hard candy, ice, apples, nuts, seeds, pretzels, and other similar foods. You should also avoid foods that require a lot of chewing.

●      Alcohol

When you have temporary veneers, you must also refrain from consuming alcohol as it might compromise the bonding of the hardware to your teeth.

●      Sticky candy

Like hard foods, sticky candy can also cause your porcelain veneers to break. This includes caramels, taffy, and gum.

Aside from knowing what to avoid, you should also learn which foods and beverages you can consume with veneers. These are:

• Chicken. This must be cut in bite-sized pieces, especially if you’re wearing temporary veneers.
• Mashed potatoes, bananas, and pasta. Similar to people with braces, those with dental veneers should start with a soft diet immediately after the attachment of the hardware. This means you can only eat soft foods like mashed potatoes, bananas, and porridge during the first few days after you have your porcelain veneers installed.
• Eggs
• Crustless bread
• White fish

5.   Quit Smoking (or Don’t Start)

Smoking is notorious for having plenty of negative effects on human health, and it doesn’t really do much good for your teeth, either. In fact, many smokers end up seeking cosmetic dentistry solutions after realizing that the bad habit they developed has permanently stained their teeth.

Quick Roundup

Dental veneers are made to give you that brilliant Hollywood smile treatment. With the right care and maintenance, they should be able to deliver that promise for 10 years or more.

To further ensure that your radiant smile is maintained, visit your dentist regularly. He should be able to tell you whether you need to amp up your veneer care or if it is time to change your hardware.

AUTHOR BIO

Dr. Zul Paliwalla is the General and Cosmetic British Dentist at NOA Dental Clinic, specializing in smile-related concerns. With over 33 years of experience in the UK, Dr. Zul has successfully worked on and improved many internationally recognized smiles. He is a certified Invisalign® GOLD provider as well and has brought his elite expertise to Dubai not only to enjoy the sun, sea and sand, but also to offer his brand of personalized smile makeovers.

Sources:

https://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/veneers#2

https://tampadentalcare.com/what-foods-are-safe-after-getting-veneers/

https://glendaleperiodontics.com/5-porcelain-veneer-cleaning-and-maintenance-tips/