Dental veneers are continuing to change the way people smile and how they look at imperfect teeth. This is because veneers can easily replace the enamel of your teeth if they are discolored, damaged, or do not give you the smile that you want. As veneers have gotten more popular, many patients want to know how long they last. This is a good question to ask since dental veneers are considered to be a permanent solution, which means they cannot be easily removed once placed. This is because we have to shave off a small amount of enamel and use dental cement to attach the dental veneers. When it comes to determining how long your dental veneers will last, there have been a number of studies conducted to give us this kind of information. From our experience, if you take care of your veneers, they should last a minimum of 10 years without any need for repair or replacement. Here is what some of the studies found. In the research group, 96 percent found that their dental veneers lasted at least five to six years. This group overlapped with the second group, who found that their dental veneers lasted 10 to 11 years, making up 93 percent. Both of these groups also had a large number in the last group, who found that their dental veneers lasted 12 to 13 years. This group consisted of 91 percent of the entire study participants. In addition to this, we found that 71 percent of the participants’ veneers lasted between 15 and 16 years. It is important to remember that while these are very strong numbers backing up the longevity of dental veneers, they are still only as good as their treatment.
When considering dental veneers in the context of how long they will last, you have to consider the care factor of the user. Since you are the user, you have the most impact on how long your dental veneers last. There are two factors that can influence how long your veneers last: trauma to the teeth and oral hygiene habits. Oral health influences everything to do with your mouth, and porcelain veneers are no exception. In veneers that failed, we find that 7 percent of them failed because of plaque buildup. Plaque can easily be prevented with proper cleaning and ensuring that you visit the dentist at least twice per year. We also found that complications with gum disease played a role in the failure of 14 percent of cases.
People do unfortunate things with their teeth. An example of this is people who open bags with their teeth. This kind of activity puts unnecessary pressure on the dental veneers and can result in them fracturing or cracking. In studies, we have seen that the two main ways people lose their veneers is through fracturing, which accounted for 45 percent of the failures, and cracks appearing in the veneers, which accounted for roughly 28 percent of the total loss of veneers. This shows a direct relationship between lost veneers and trauma. To make sure you have a long life out of your veneers, make sure to protect them like you would your natural teeth.
Call our Leawood, KS, dental office to make an appointment with a dentist who may be able to help you find out more about this topic, and improve your oral health.