What is Dental Trimming for Veneers?

Veneers are a great advancement in dental procedures. Dental veneers can help to fill gaps in teeth, correct chips or cracks and a myriad of other problems that can affect the way your teeth look. Though it seems like all the dentist does is slip the veneer over the tooth and cements it in place, and it's done. However, it is a little more involved than that. For the veneer to work, it must look just like the real tooth, and that includes the thickness of the tooth. This is where dental trimming comes in.

How Does Dental Trimming Work?

When you get veneers, your dentist fits them to your teeth. Your teeth have a certain thickness, and that thickness must be met in order for the veneer to look natural. If the dentist simply puts the veneer over the existing tooth, that tooth would be thicker than the teeth around it, and it would look thicker. For this reason, your dentist has to trim the existing tooth so that when the veneer is fitted on the tooth, it doesn't gain any thickness.

This is precise work. Your dentist can only shave a certain amount of enamel from your teeth, or your teeth will be damaged in the process. If your tooth already has decay, these areas will be trimmed more than others, so the decay is trimmed out.

When done correctly with a sufficient amount of enamel left on the tooth the veneer will bond well to the new surface. The veneer can be placed to end at the bottom of your teeth or to wrap around the backside of your teeth. If it wraps around to the backside, the edge of your tooth that does the biting will have to be trimmed slightly shorter, so the tooth with the veneer isn’t longer than the other teeth. If you have any questions, or if you would like to learn more, please call us today at (530) 756-5300.