Robert had just moved to Boulder to start attending the University of Colorado when he broke part of his front tooth. Robert had previously had had a restoration placed on both of this upper front teeth. A piece of the restoration on one of these teeth is what had broken off. Not wanting to start college with a broken front tooth, Robert came to see Dr. Adler of Adler Cosmetic & Family Dentistry. After examining Robert, Dr. Adler recommended that Robert replace his existing restorations with all porcelain veneers. Since Robert had the piece of the restoration that had broken off, Dr. Adler was able to temporarily bond that back onto his tooth to keep the restoration from breaking further and to keep the jagged surface from bothering Robert’s tissue until he would be able to come in for the veneers.

Since both of Robert’s upper front teeth (teeth #8 & 9) had restorations on them, Dr. Adler recommended placing veneers on both of them. It is very difficult to restore a single front tooth and have the restoration blend in with the other teeth and look natural and balanced. Usually it is recommended that an even number of teeth (usually 2, 4, or 8 ) be restored, especially on a cosmetic case, to maintain symmetry in the smile and keep it looking natural. This is another reason why Dr. Adler recommended replacing the restorations on both tooth #8 and 9. If Robert had a more traumatic injury that had caused the break then Dr. Adler would have been concerned about micro fractures in the adjacent teeth that could later cause those teeth to have pain or break. Often times, adjacent teeth are injured in an accident but may not appear to be damaged at first. Luckily for Robert, his break was fairly superficial and Dr. Adler was not concerned about the adjacent teeth likewise being injured.

Robert’s new veneers

Teeth #8 and 9 were prepped for the veneers. Veneers are a thin shell of porcelain that are chemically bonded over the front of a tooth so very little tooth structure needs to be removed in the preparation. The chemical bonding insures that they are strong and secure. Once the teeth have been prepped for the veneers, then impressions are taken of the teeth to be sent to the lab for custom fabrication and shade match. Temporaries, that look almost as good as the real thing, are then placed on the teeth.

Robert then came in for Zoom Whitening. Since restorations do not whiten, we wanted Robert’s other teeth to be a light as possible before having his veneers placed. This gives Robert the best smile possible and also allows him to keep his smile whiter over the long term. Robert’s tissue was isolated to keep both the activating light and the whitening solution off of it. Whitening solution is then placed on the teeth and the activating light is used for 15 minutes. This process is repeated 4 times to get the best results. Robert was also given custom bleaching trays so that he could do any touch up bleaching at home as needed. Robert’s teeth whitened up beautifully and the shade was sent to the lab for a custom match.