Caring for Your New Smile: A Guide to Maintaining Dental Veneers

If you’ve invested in dental veneers to upgrade your smile, it’s important to protect both your investment and your beautiful new look by properly caring for them. While high-quality veneers should last upwards of 10-15 years (or longer!) with the right maintenance, improper care can lead to damage, costly repairs or shortened lifespan.

Proper Care to Keep Your Veneers Healthy

As your Long Beach dentist, we regularly get questions from veneer patients on the dos and don’ts of keeping their smile makeover intact. Follow these essential care tips so you can confidently show off your stunning veneered smile for the long haul!

Avoid Staining Foods and Drinks

Just like your natural tooth enamel, veneer materials can accumulate stubborn stains over time too. This discoloration is not only unsightly; it can also be difficult or even impossible to remove depending on placement or extent of staining.

Be mindful of foods and beverages that are notorious veneer stain culprits:

• Coffee, black tea and colas
• Dark red or purple grapes, pomegranate
• Berries, cherries, dark juices
• Soy sauce, curry and other intensely pigmented foods
• Red wine, some white wines, brandy
• Tobacco

Whenever possible after consuming staining items, thoroughly rinse your mouth with water. Even better, brush your teeth soon afterward if feasible. Sipping moderately staining drinks through a straw can also reduce contact with veneers.

Practice Proper Brushing and Flossing

While a beautiful veneer exterior can’t get cavities, decay can still develop at the margin where the veneer meets natural tooth structure if bacteria, plaque and tartar buildup aren’t properly controlled. That means brushing at least twice per day and flossing once daily are musts!

Use an extra-soft bristled toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste formulated for sensitive teeth. Avoid abrasive whitening toothpastes as these can create tiny scratches that dull and stain veneers. Take care to gently brush the front, tongue side and biting surfaces using light pressure and small circular motions.

Since flossing removes plaque and debris from tight spaces a toothbrush misses, it’s crucial for cleaning around the veneer edges where decay can easily gain traction. Ask our dental team to review proper flossing technique if unsure.

Additional Cleaning Tips

For enhanced cleaning power between professional visits, invest in rubber tip stimulators, sulcabrush applicators or proxabrush tools. Gently scrubbing the line where gum meets veneer disrupts biofilm buildup. Non-abrasive toothpastes are gentler than grittier whitening pastes too.

Be diligent about attending all recommended professional cleanings and checkups. Our hygienists have specialized scaling tools and polishers that deep clean minute rough spots you can’t reach at home. This helps veneers stay slick and stain-free. Consistent exams also allow our dentists to catch potential issues early so they can be promptly addressed before turning into complex problems down the road.

Follow Up With the Dentist

No matter how diligent your veneer care routine, problems can occasionally arise or replacements become necessary overtime. Report any sensitivity, noticeable staining, damage, cracks or loosening you notice so they can be addressed promptly. Occasionally veneers may require minor repairs, bonding work or re-cementation to avoid more complex solutions later.

Longevity of Dental Veneers

With adequate oral care and routine dental maintenance, it’s possible to get 10 years or longer from good quality dental veneers before replacement is advisable. However, neglecting care guidelines makes early failure necessitating re-dos more likely.

Keep an eye out for these warning signs it may be time to replace a damaged veneer:

• Visible cracking, pitting or holes
• Repeated breaking or chipping
• Dark staining unlikely to improve
• Gap visible at margin signifying loosening

Replacing a single veneer is simpler than doing a whole new set. The process involves removing remaining adhesive, prepping the underlying tooth and fabricating an updated, custom-matched veneer. Multiple failing veneers usually warrant redoing the entire ensemble for optimal symmetry and uniform color.

Keep Your Veneers Dazzling

Caring for dental veneers does require some diligence and dental upkeep. However, taking the proper precautions and staying on top of hygiene and maintenance pays off exponentially in long-lasting, damage-free results.

We want our patients to get the maximum enjoyment from their smile investments. Be sure to contact Dentist of Long Beach right away if you notice any issues with your veneers or have questions about recommended care. Maintaining optimal oral health and promptly addressing problems protects both your investment and your beautiful new smile!