Getting things covered
Dental veneers are a cosmetic dentistry solution designed to make a patient’s teeth appear more cohesive and together. Veneers are thin layers of porcelain that are bonded to the front of a patient’s teeth to make their smiles appear more straight, whiter and healthier, and are one of the most common forms of cosmetic dentistry across the globe. Whilst they may be in the public eye through the sparkling teeth of celebrities, in truth, they’ve existed since as far back as the 1920s. Whilst the veneers of the 1920s were far different from the veneers in Birmingham today, it is interesting to note that they are by no means a contemporary procedure, but one which has been evolving for almost 100 years.
California dreaming
Veneers were the brainchild of a Californian dentist named Dr. Charles Pincus, who operated from Hollywood, and catered to the needs of a number of actors. Pincus was searching for a way to provide his patients with a perfect ‘Hollywood smile’ as teeth have always made an impact on the screen – even in the days before colour film. Pincus found a solution to the needs of his A-list clientele by attaching an acrylic material to the front of his patients’ teeth, giving them a temporary ‘perfect’ smile for their scenes on screen. Throughout the following decades, progress of the veneer was slow, but the interest and use throughout Hollywood was palpable. At some point in the 1940s, dentists began to realise that many people – not just actors – could benefit from veneer treatment, as false teeth of that time period were generally easily noticeable. However, whilst the porcelain or composites of that time were effective enough, there did not exist a dental bonding agent which was strong enough to fix the veneers to a patient’s teeth for any length of time – beyond that of shooting a film, or a scene. In the 1950s a dentist named Dr. Michael Bunocore discovered that light etching of a patient’s teeth, through the application of a mild acidic solution made the surface of the teeth far more receptive to the dental bonding agent. This was a large leap in the progress of the veneer, but it wasn’t until 1982 that dentists R. Calamia and R.J. Simonsen finally found a way to permanently bond the veneers to patients’ teeth, and from that point on the interest in veneers and the availability of them skyrocketed.
Shining front
The process of installing contemporary dental veneers initially consists of a consultation between the patient and their trusted dental practitioner, to establish their eligibility and highlight the positive effects that they might expect the treatment to have. Thereafter, providing the patient wishes to have the procedure, the installation process would begin. This initially begins with the dentist drilling off around half a millimetre of the patient’s tooth, to allow for the veneer to be bonded to the front of their teeth. Thereafter, an impression of the patient’s teeth would be made, from which the veneers would be constructed. Once the veneers have been constructed, they are then bonded to the front of the patient’s teeth through a strong bonding agent, and thus the veneers are installed and the patient’s teeth are more cohesive, even and whiter for years to come.