Fall Brings Veneers

I haven't posted a blog in a while now, but not a ton of crazy stuff has been happening on planet Nelson. That is until last week. For some reason the hospital has been flooded with veneer cases - two patients in the last three weeks! Whose complaining though? Not me. Actually, the doctors have all been really cool and I was able to pop in and see the procedure in it's entirety, albeit out of order.

Act I happened on the first Friday of October. I was able to get a glance at patient who was getting their veneer fit checked (post-trimming/pre-cementing). It turns out the fit wasn't quite right and the doc decided to get a second impression. Impressions aren't the most exciting thing in the world, but the dentist let me fill up the tray with impression material so it was worth it. Anyways, these impressions were sent to the lab for a second shot at the veneers. I'd like to eventually see how the lab uses this impression to make the actual veneers.

As luck would have it, a week later I walked into the operatory and saw that the same lady was having her veneers bonded onto tooth 8 and 9 (the two front teeth). The dentist used cement and cured the veneer - very much like the procedure for basic filling. Neat neat stuff. This was actually one of my favorite days at the office; not only did the veneers look amazing, the patient couldn't have been happier. Her actual quote was "I feel like my smile just got a new haircut."

To round it all out, last week I was able to see an first step of the whole process. This included the initial trimming of the teeth, shade matching, impressions, and the placement of a temporary veneer. 

The patient actually got a little heated during the color-matching process - she wanted a shade that was whiter than any of the ones being offered. To my eye all of the sample veneers looked pretty white, but I guess I'm not the one that has to live with the little pieces of porcelain on my teeth for the rest of my life. The rest of the procedure was both cool and uneventful. 

Kind of bummed that I couldn't take any pictures of the procedures, but I guess HIPPA is a little bit more important than my blog. Here's a picture (a teaser of my next blog) to make up for it: