When it comes to veneers and crowns, one very common question we get is “how will I look with my temporary veneers?” Aesthetics play a major role when deciding that you want to use veneers. Ideally, temporary veneers will stay in place for 5 to 10 days until the permanent ones are ready.
Now, getting veneers is not something you want to converse about during a gathering with friends, necessarily. Thankfully, these are made of porcelain and will perfectly fit on your teeth and no one will notice you are using them. But temporary veneers are not made of porcelain. Instead, they are made of acrylic.
Why do You Need Temporary Veneers?
When getting ready for veneers, the dentist needs to take an impression of what your trimmed teeth look like and send this to a lab which will elaborate the veneers accordingly. There are three main reasons why you need temporary or interim veneers:
Appearance
In preparation for using veneers, the dentist will trim down your teeth to make space for the porcelain pieces. This will make your teeth look odd. Hence, if you want to have your teeth look normal, you need to have some temporary veneers placed.
Sensitivity
After preparing for veneers, your teeth will get very sensitive to cold and hot beverages. The temporary veneers cover these sensitive exposed areas, offering protection.
Test Drive
You might want to get a feel of what the permanent pieces will look like before actually getting them. With the interim ones, you can check if there are any flaws that you might want the dentist to fix before putting up the permanent ones.
How Are Temporary Veneers Made?
There are usually two methods to make them and it basically depends on the number of veneers you will be using.
If you are getting only 1 to 3 veneers, your dentist might choose to use a tooth-colored filling material to make them by hand. Actually, he can use this material to sculpt and shape the veneers directly on your teeth.
He will then use a drop of bonding cement to fix them in place. This bonding agent is not as strong as the one used for the permanent veneers as it must allow easy removal. But it is strong enough to hold the veneer in place while you eat, drink, and brush.
The other option is usually used when you are getting four or more veneers. The dentist uses a small mold of the wax mock-up. This is the mockup that the lab technician will do to make your permanent veneers. So, the dentist makes a small putty mold of the mock-up and makes the temporaries. He pours acrylic on this mold and places it over your teeth.
Once the dentist removes the potty mold out of your mouth, a perfect copy of the wax mock-up remains, leaving the acrylic behind on your teeth – a perfect copy of your permanent ones. The dentist will actually polish any imperfections. The edges need to be smoothened out and any excess bits are taken away.
Many times, even when the dentist has trimmed excess acrylic, some might still remain, especially within the teeth gap. Remember that this temporary stays in place together in one piece and lock in between your teeth. The implication of this is that you will have more difficulty flossing but you can do it if you use special orthodontic flossers.
You might experience some sensitivity to cold and hot drinks, but don’t worry, this is normal. The interim veneers are not bonded to the teeth.
Go easy on these temporaries. Do brush your teeth like you regularly do, except that a bit more gently over the surfaces of the veneers and over the gum edges where the veneers are located.
What are Temporary Veneers Like?
To this point, you have realized that temporary veneers will not look like the real thing. But the difference is hardly noticeable. This has more to do with how self-conscious you are about wearing them. The fact that you will feel something rough and bigger in your mouth does not really help.
Be aware of some different sensations you will be experiencing. Since there will be adhesive on the front and the back of your teeth, you will not be able to feel the back of your real teeth. This rough layer of adhesive might force your bottom teeth to fall back a little instead of locking up with your front teeth. This may cause some jaw pain.
Remember that these temps usually have no gap between teeth. Besides making it more difficult to floss, your speech might change a bit. You will probably feel saliva building up on your gumlines. This is because you can no longer suck it in through your teeth gap like you usually and unconsciously do.
In general, you might find it a bit difficult to close your mouth to a comfortable position. But you do not need to worry as this is not what your permanent pieces will feel like.
Foods You Must Avoid
Even if they are temporary, there are still some foods you should avoid in order to keep your temporary veneers in place and with no stain. However, for the first days, we recommend eating only soft foods. Here are some products you must avoid:
- Any hard food such as candies, ice, popcorn, etc.
- Sticky food such as chewing gum and soft candies
- Difficult-to-chew meat
- Any food that can leave stains on your teeth: ketchup, jams, curry, tomatoes, and very specially: turmeric.
- Any drink containing pigments: soda drink, coffee, red wine, and similar drinks
- Crunchy foods such as nuts, crisps, seeds, etc.
- Chocolate
Foods You Can Eat
You can keep soft foods in the menu and those that will not leave any stain on your veneers:
- Pasta
- Eggs
- Mashed potatoes
- Fish
- Bananas
- Soft canned food
Here in Columbia Dental, we offer the best experience with temporary and permanent veneers. Come visit us for a consultation on what is the best option for your smile. We will make your smile glow and sparkle, with either type of veneer. You will not be disappointed.