You now have that amazing smile you’ve always wanted after visiting your cosmetic dentist. Veneers bring so much confidence with their beautiful bright colour and customised shape, making your smile natural and vibrant. The big question now is: how to look after porcelain veneers once they have been fitted? There are several ways to keep your veneers in pristine condition, including cleaning, avoiding certain foods and avoiding heavy impact on your teeth. Doing all these things will help to extend the life of your veneers and keep them looking white and bright for as long as possible.

Keeping your porcelain veneers clean

It is well known that regular brushing and flossing is an important habit to keep your teeth and oral hygiene in the best condition. This is just as crucial with porcelain veneers, if not more so if you wish to achieve the longest lifespan possible for your veneers. Changing to a softer brush and using less abrasive toothpaste will keep the surface of your veneers smooth and stain-free. With veneers, there is no longer any need to use toothpaste with whitening properties or a harsh toothbrush. These can potentially damage the surface of your veneers and ultimately reduce their lifespan. Another tip is to ensure you use alcohol-free mouthwash, as alcohol can weaken your veneers and the less exposure they have, the better.

Avoiding certain foods and hard impacts with your porcelain veneers

Although your veneers are tough, they can be susceptible to damage through eating excessively hard foods or general misuse such as using your teeth to open bottles or crack nuts. Try to avoid biting down on any items that require extra pressure than normal such as large nuts, hard lollies and gripping and tearing to open packages. All of these activities can cause damage even to your natural teeth. Veneers are no different in that they can crack just as your natural teeth would under excessive pressure. A cracked veneer would then need to be replaced earlier than anticipated.

You should also try to avoid hard impacts on your teeth. For example, if you play a contact sport, you should always wear a mouthguard to help protect your porcelain veneers. This will help you to avoid the need to repair your veneers before their lifetime is up. Hard impacts can be just as detrimental to your veneers, if not more so, than a hard chomp.

Taking the necessary steps to protect your teeth from unnecessary pressure, either through biting or impact, will ensure that your veneers remain in good condition for many years to come.

Keeping your porcelain veneers bright

Many types of food and drink can discolour our natural teeth. Veneers can also see similar changes in colour over time if you have a high intake of tea, coffee, red wine or you are a smoker. Though there are other foods that can potentially stain your teeth, these ones are the most common.

With prolonged exposure to certain foods and drinks, signs of discolouration can appear on your veneers over time – particularly if you are not maintaining an optimum oral hygiene routine. Of course, it’s your choice to consume what you want. However, you should keep in mind that if you wish to maintain pristine veneers for as long as possible, then it’s best to try and minimise your intake of stain-causing foods and drinks.

The best ways to look after your porcelain veneers

In the end, the answer to the question of how to look after porcelain veneers is almost the same as how to look after your natural teeth:

1. Use a soft toothbrush.
2. Use an alcohol-free mouthwash.
3. Avoid hard foods such as boiled lollies or nuts.
4. Protect your teeth from hard impacts.
5. Minimise your intake of stain-causing foods and drink such as coffee.

Veneers can help to give you a beautiful, bright, white smile, and caring for them is just as important as caring for your natural teeth. If you wish to know more about veneers feel free to contact us. We would be more than happy to answer any of your questions about porcelain veneers or any of our other treatments.