Composite Veneers - a display of Rob's work

Composite Veneers are thin layers of composite resin bonded to the front surfaces of teeth.

It is a Cosmetic dental procedure that can be used to repair chipped, cracked, or discoloured teeth. Composite can also be used to fill in gaps between teeth, to lengthen, shorten, or protect the root of a tooth. Composite veneers takes approximately 30 minutes to one hour per tooth in a single visit to the cosmetic dentist.

Six Composite Veneers to freshen up a smile

Whitening and straightening Upper Teeth with 8 Composite Veneers

Closing gaps in upper teeth with Composite Veneers

Rebuilding and whitening worn teeth with Composite veneers (4 Photos)

Rebuilding small worn teeth with 6 Composite veneers and a Gumlift

Whitening and straightening Upper Teeth with 6 Composite Veneers

Straightening Upper Teeth with 3 full Composite Veneers and 2 partial Composite Veneers

Closing gaps in upper teeth with 4 Composite Veneers and a 2 unit Porcelain bridge and a gumlift

Closing a gap with2 Composite Veneers

Six Composite veneers to whiten and refine upper teeth

Whitening and straightening Upper Teeth with Composite Veneers and a Composite bridge

Whitening and straightening Upper Teeth with 6 Composite Veneers

Whitening and straightening Upper Teeth with 8 Composite Veneers

Closing gaps with 6 Composite Veneers

Whitening and straightening 8 Upper Teeth with Composite Veneers

Straightening front teeth with 1 partial, 1 full Composite Veneer and a gumlift

Whitening and straightening Upper worn Teeth with 6 Composite Veneers

Straightening 6 Upper Teeth with Composite Veneers

Straightening teeth with 2 Composite veneers and 2 Gumlifts

Whitening and lengthening Upper Teeth with Composite Veneers

Whitening and straightening 6 Upper Teeth with Composite Veneers

Whitening and straightening Upper Teeth with 5 Composite Veneers and 1 Composite Crown

Fixing discoloured teeth with 4 Composite Veneers

Whitening and straightening Upper Teeth with 8 Composite Veneers

Whitening and reshaping upper and lower teeth with a gumlift, Composite Veneers and a Composite Bridge (with a gold insert)

Click here to read this patients testimonial

Whitening and straightening Upper Teeth with 6 Composite Veneers

Whitening and straightening Upper Teeth with 4 Composite Veneers and 4 Composite Crowns

Whitening and reshaping 6 Upper Teeth with Composite Veneers and a gumlift

Whitening and straightening 6 Upper Teeth with 5 Composite Veneers and 1 Composite Crown

Whitening and straightening 6 Upper Teeth with Composite Veneers

Reshaping worn Upper Teeth with Composite Veneers to match existing bridge

Whitening and straightening Upper Teeth with 8 Composite Veneers

Click here to read this patients testimonial

Reshaping 1 tooth with a Composite Veneer

Reshaping 3 Teeth with Composite Veneers

Closing spaces and repair worn teeth with 4 Composite Veneers

Closing gaps in upper teeth with Partial Composite Veneers

Closing gaps in upper teeth with 6 Composite Veneers

Closing gaps in upper teeth and covering discolouration with 6 Composite Veneers

Closing gaps in upper teeth with 6 Composite Veneers and a Composite bridge

Closing gaps in upper teeth with 6 Composite Veneers

Closing gaps in upper teeth with5 Composite Veneers and a Composite Bridge

Repairing Crown margins:

Full mouth Rehabilitation where most of the enamel has been lost:

The above technique is especially useful for cases when teeth have been worn by bulimia erosion. Bulimia usually causes a lot of the enamel to leave the tooth.

Composite Veneers have many advantages over traditional cosmetic techniques:

  1. natural looking
  2. relatively inexpensive
  3. requires little or no removal of existing tooth structure
  4. easily maintained
  5. easily repaired
  6. does not wear opposing teeth
  7. ability to improve the shape/length of teeth
  8. ability to improve the colour of teeth

The dentist begins by selecting a shade of composite resin (bonding material) that is closest to the shade (colour) of your teeth. Then, the dentist roughens the surface of the teeth and applies a liquid that helps the bonding material adhere to the teeth. Various layers and colours of composite resin are then applied to the teeth, smoothed into the desired shape, and hardened with a high intensity light. After the resin has hardened, the dentist will make the final touches and polish the tooth until it resembles the other teeth. If more than one tooth is being repaired it may take several visits to the dentist in order to achieve the desired results. Although very little tooth preparation is necessary to apply Composite Veneers, they are not strictly reversible. If they were removed, at the very least the underlying tooth structure would be affected in the same way that wood is affected after paint has been stripped off.

If you have any teeth that are 'sticking out' more than others, sometimes your dentist can remove some of the offending tooth tissue to enhance the cosmetic end result. This will be an option that will be discussed with the patient before proceeding with any tooth removal.

Maintenance of Your New Composite Veneers :

1. Please brush and floss as you normally would to prevent oral hygiene problems. Once placed, Composite Veneers are typically the kindest restoration to the gum tissues that we currently have in our prosthetic armamentarium. You will not damage your Veneers by either flossing or brushing. Any non-abrasive tooth paste is acceptable. A good home care regimen will ensure the success of your laminate restorations for years to come. The ideal toothbrush for Composite Veneers is an Oral B electric toothbrush with and extra soft head

2. Some sensitivity to hot and cold may be experienced after the placement of your veneers. Some sensitivity is absolutely normal and usually dissipates after one-two weeks. If this sensitivity should remain or concern you at all, please call your dentist.

3. Once placed your laminates are very strong and will resist most of the forces placed upon them by a normal diet. However, opening pistachio nuts with your teeth, chewing on bones or toffee apples is probably not a good idea. As with most things, common sense should prevail.

4. If you are known to be a grinder or clencher, please let your dentist know. He/she will fabricate a soft nightguard for you to wear to minimize the stresses placed upon your teeth while you sleep.

5. Like anything in the mouth, it can be prone to wear and tear. Sometimes Composite veneers can chip slightly, but in most cases they are exceedingly easy to repair. One would be unlucky to have them chip within the first five years unless there was a significant grinding problem

6. If there have been substantial changes to the shape of your teeth, occasionally a patient may develop a lisp that lasts for about a week. On the rare occasions it does not resolve spontaneously, your dentist can make some adjustments to remove it.

7. Average life span of Composite Veneers are 8 years, this can be extended with good home care and regular maintenance, which you should allow $100 every couple of years. In ideal circumstances 15 years is certainly possible.

Patient Testimonial 1:
I have always had crooked teeth and always wanted to do something about it.
They were also yellowish in places despite my best efforts at keeping them clean. I almost never smiled at people, and when I did I always felt embarrassed. I decided to have a look at composite veneers to see if they could make my teeth look a bit better.

I made the appointment to see Rob to discuss my options. At the initial consultation Rob explained my options and we decided that composite veneers would be the way to go. He then did a quick demonstration to give me an indication of what the composite veneers could do. This involved sticking some of the material to the front of my teeth and shaping it to give an indication of what the finished result might look like. It took about 15 minutes and the change was dramatic. I made the decision right then to go with it.
The mock-up was then removed and I was back to having crooked teeth again. No change was made to my teeth and if I had decided not to go ahead and get the veneers my teeth would have been none the worse for the trial.

To prepare my teeth for the veneers, I went to see the hygienist, Mel, to get them professionally cleaned. She did a wonderful job and I got comments from people that my teeth looked much better. The putting on of the veneers was to take two sessions of 2 1/2 hours each. The first session Rob concentrated on the four front teeth. There was quite a bit to be done as one tooth stuck way out towards the front and had to be shortened by removing some of the tooth. While this was not reversible, it was necessary to give a good result, and I'm happy that it no longer cuts into the inside of my mouth.

While Rob and Lisa did their magic I lay back and watched a DVD. Going to the dentist was never like this when I was a kid!! It was also not painful and I only required anesthetic when Rob was removing sections of tooth.

After the first session I was very pleasantly surprised at the results so far. I have no idea how Rob achieved the result he did, but my front teeth were straight and looked totally natural. The result was significantly better than the mock-up. My mouth ached a little from being worked in for a couple of hours, and my teeth felt a bit funny for a while. But by the next day I was fine and ready for the second session. The second session was doing the two teeth on each side behind the front four teeth. Once again it was a relatively painless experience, and having been through the first session I found it easier to relax. Once that was done Rob did some adjustments to ensure my mouth could close properly and that there were no sharp edges left and that it felt comfortable

Then I got to see the results. I was nearly reduced to tears. The results were so much more than I had ever hoped for. I now have a smile that I am not embarrassed for people to see. I find myself smiling more at people, and they smile back. The whole process was relatively painless (much less than getting a filling) and inexpensive. I only wish I had done this a long time ago.

Thank you to everyone at Wellington dentists, I love my new smile, and as a bonus, I am not longer hesitant about going to the dentist.

T George

Patient Testimonial 2:

'After returning from overseas after a two year period, I walked in off the street for an appointment with Rob, his having been recommended by a business friend.

My first impressions of his practice were very favourable - friendly and helpful staff out front, light, airy premises with cool cafe music, flat screens on the ceiling and cool images/movies to watch - a whole new experience for me at a dentist's surgery. However, I was apprehensive at that first consultation - years of neglect, botched National Health dentistry from the UK, the attrition associated with middle age and the specific challenge of a weakened bridge at the front, the legacy of an old rugby injury, made me a walking dental nightmare! Then there was the worry about cost?!

I needn't have worried: Rob immediately got to work, strategising a treatment plan and crafting solutions to my specific dental problems, something he is very clever at. He was upbeat and positive about the outcomes and e-mailed me a plan and quote that was very reasonable indeed. Once agreed upon, along with his assistant Lisa, the pair earnestly got to work.

Rob is an amazingly quick and efficient practitioner - he is very professional, totally focussed on the best outcomes and I consider him to be a true craftsman; the results he achieved with me after three days of intensive treatment were nothing short of remarkable. After being used to slow, invasive, brutal/ protracted regimes of drilling and filling, my experience in the chair with Rob by comparison was pain free, and certainly less arduous and relatively stress-free.

In short I would wholeheartedly recommend him: so if you have a dental problem you want to get fixed up, you now know where to go!

M Williams

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