Cosmetic Dentistry Orange County | Huefner Sensational Smiles Blog

Here is a photo of a typical dental shade guide on the right, showing the sixteen basic shades going from darkest at the far right, to lighter shades on the left. These are the “natural” colors. Ten years ago most almost all porcelain veneers were made in one of those shades. But today, with bleaching and porcelain veneering, most people want their teeth whiter than those more “naturally” colored shades. On the left you’ll note the four new “bleaching shades”, which are whiter than the shades that occur naturally.
Today it is very typical for our patients to bleach their lower teeth and then do their porcelain veneers on their upper teeth in one of the four bleaching shades. At this time shade “020 or BL2” and “010 or BL1” are our most popular for smile makeovers involving 6-10 upper porcelain veneers.
Although the color of the porcelain is very important, I remind our patients that it is not the only thing that determines how white or natural your smile appears. The “translucency” or “opacity” of the porcelain veneers is a huge factor in allowing or not allowing light to partially pass through the porcelain veneers to appear natural. Real teeth have that translucency, and in general, unless the underlying teeth are extremely dark, some translucency is what we want in porcelain veneers or crowns on front teeth to mimic with the life-like and vital look of real teeth.
This doesn’t happen with opaque porcelains or with porcelain over metal (gold) crowns. The opacity, which often appears “life-less” is what so many patients object too when they see dentistry that they think looks “fake”.
But with semi-translucent porcelain veneers, which are bonded over natural teeth, the teeth can look whiter than natural teeth but still look extremely natural because of the “translucency factor”. Most of the smile makeovers with porcelain veneers that we place are done using MAC Empress Porcelain, which has beautiful life-like translucency, great colors and looks extremely natural even in the bleaching shade range. This is why so many of our patients go into the 020 (BL2) or 010 (BL1) shades and their veneers still look “real”.
Our patients always have the final decision on what color to make their porcelain veneers, but for those who want their porcelain veneers to be in the older and darker natural shades (in one of those sixteen shades on the right) I remind them that the color of their new porcelain veneers is permanent and they won’t lighten or darken over the years. With so many people bleaching their teeth and doing things to enhance their image, wanting to make themselves look younger and more attractive, we’re seeing society as a whole more and more often choosing one of the four bleaching shades on the left.
Color is very subjective, but our main criteria for shade selection is that the patient is happy with the choice of their new porcelain veneers. Here are photos of four ladies, each choosing a different color for their new porcelain veneers:


Although these colors may not show up very good on your computer monitor, each of these patients decided on a unique shade. The first lady on the upper left want her teeth to look natural, and not too white. The second lady on the upper right wanted a “white-bright” smile. The third, on the lower left, had only four porcelain veneers and after bleaching the rest of her upper teeth, wanted the four veneers to match the rest of her natural teeth. The fourth lady, on the lower right, was a little older and her entire life had wanted “white teeth!”. Thus, she chose an opaque “Hollywood white” shade.
Regardless of the color chosen by the patient (not by the dentist), our goal is for the patient to be happy with their new porcelain veneers or all-porcelain crowns and the color they choose. That is the most important thing, that the patient is very involved in the treatment choices and happy with the end results.

Dr. Norman Huefner, General and Cosmetic Dentistry, Laguna Niguel, CA

Labels: best color porcelain veneers, color porcelain crowns, cost porcelain veneers orange county, lumineers irvine

Kathy is a baby boomer and like many she had much old dentistry. The problem was that all that was ever done was “fix the tooth” at a time, with little or no regard for the big picture….creating natural good looking teeth and smile. The result was a hodge-podge of dentistry.

Old dentistry and orthodontics didn't give Kathy a great smile to be proud of.

Her front two caps didn’t match the rest of her teeth and the metal edge on the one was showing. Her gums were uneven and after having two teeth pulled for braces, the orthodontics collapsed her side teeth so that all you really saw when she smiled was her front six teeth. She has some old fillings and crowns that had discolored her teeth as well. What Kathy wanted now as a “new look”, one that gave her a great smile that she wouldn’t be self conscious about any more. A sensational smile that she could be proud of!

Kathy was treated in just two visits, giving her that sensational smile she wanted. Some laser gum reshaping (also called a “gum lift”) was done to make the gum levels even, her front two porcelain-on-metal crowns were replaced with two all-porcelain crowns (non-metal), porcelain veneers were placed on the other visible teeth so that all her smile would have a beautiful, natural color. Of particular note, the side teeth that leaned in because of the poorly done orthodontics was corrected by placing veneers to widen her smile, giving the illusion that no teeth were pulled. Now when she smiles she shows a full compliment of teeth, not just the front six teeth!

Rejuvenated new smile with porcelain veneers, two porcelain crowns, and laser gum reshaping.

Kathy’s final results now allow her to smile with pride and look her very best.

Kathy's smile rejuvenated with porcelain veneers and cosmetic dentistry

Labels: black line around gums, cost porcelain veneers orange county, mission viejo cosmetic dentist, younger looking smile

One of the biggest concerns people have about their smile is that their teeth discolor over the years. Bleaching is one answer, but often it has to be repeated and doesn't produce teeth as white as patient want. Porcelain veneers is an answer to whiter teeth, and also many other issues (such as size, crowding, proportion, shape, length, etc.), but many patients want to know that their new smile with porcelain veneers won't change color and darken over the years. This was certainly something that used to happen with plastic bonding that was done a decade or so ago.
Fortunately, with a smile on my face, I can assure my cosmetic dentistry patients that by using porcelain veneers we almost never see this the veneers darken over time. Porcelain veneers are dense and smooth as glass, and as such rarely pick up any stain. In placing porcelain veneers for over 20 years I have only had one instance where my patient had veneers that were staining, and that was because he was an avid cigar smoker. After polishing off the cigar stain and showing him a few techniques to improve his brushing habits, his veneers never seemed to pick up any stain after that. However, natural teeth and the older fashioned plastic veneers (which we used to use a lot in the 1980s when cosmetic bonding was first introduced into dentistry) will pick up stain and will often times darken over the years. To help overcome this, natural teeth can be polished in the dental office and bleaching treatments can be used. Old fashioned plastic bonding used to get a yellowish discoloration over the years because of the hardener incorporated into it, but with newer hardeners used today this rarely happen any more, but they still tend to stain and chip more than porcelain. However because of the superior color stability and increased strength of porcelain veneers, most dentists doing significant smile enhancements prefer using porcelain rather than plastic bonding for their patients.
Here is a photo of a patient who returned to my practice 19 years after I did porcelain veneers on her upper front four teeth. Notice that the veneers still match her other upper teeth, no wear or chipping, and they still have a great shine.

THE FACT THAT THESE VENEERS ABOVE WERE DONE 19 YEARS AGO SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE COLOR RESISTANCE AND DURABILITY OF PORCELAIN VENEERS!

It is interesting that this patient returned to my practice because she now wanted all her teeth whiter. This brings up a very important point, that since porcelain veneers don’t discolor it is essential that the cosmetic dentist and patient together choose an appropriate color for the new veneers. Back in 1986 when I originally placed those four porcelain veneers almost all patients and dentists tried to make teeth look natural and not too light in color, as those were the times before teeth whitening procedures became so common. But these days most all patients want whiter and brighter smiles, and choose colors to make them look younger, cleaner and more professional. Thus, when patients have darker teeth, like this lady, today we would generally recommend to do porcelain veneers on 8-10 teeth, to create a more esthetic and homogenous smile that goes along with the lighter color. These are some examples of more current smile makeover with veneers that we are doing in our practice. Note the lighter, more attractive colors currently in vogue.

Dr. Norman Huefner, General and Cosmetic Dentistry, Laguna Niguel, CA

Labels: color porcelain veneers, cost porcelain veneers orange county, porcelain veneer discolor, porcelain veneer stain

BEFORE

When we looked closely at Tracy's smile we noticed that there were several other problems besides just having bad looking caps. There was a disproportion of her teeth size (the front two teeth were too wide and thick and the rest of her teeth were too small). She showed too much of her gums when she smiles. The gums and root areas around the front two teeth were dark. Her side teeth leaned in and because of that, didn't pick up much light and made her teeth look darker. Also, she really wanted a whiter, brighter smile.

After much discussion Tracy decided on having her two front caps redone with new all-porcelain crowns and have porcelain veneers on her other teeth. Also, to have some minor gum reshaping with the dental laser so that there would be less of her gums showing and that the gums that did show would be more even. Here is the results we achieved with Tracy's new smile with porcelain veneers and two new porcelain crowns.

AFTER

Dr. Norman Huefner, General and Cosmetic Dentistry, Laguna Niguel, CA

Labels: cosmetic dentist irvine, cost porcelain veneers orange county, lumineers ladera ranch, porcelain veneers mission viejo

BEFORE COSMETIC DENTISTRY: Gerald knew it was time that he did something about the appearance of his teeth and smile.

At his cosmetic dentistry consultation Dr. Huefner asked Gerald what he wanted to change about his smile. His answer was that he wanted a great smile, and would leave it to Dr. Huefner to create the best smile possible for him. Usually patient's aren't as trusting as Gerald and want more input into the design of the porcelain veneers.

One of the things that Dr. Huefner had to find out from Gerald was "how white" did he want his teeth? After all, his teeth were very dark and Dr. Huefner wanted to make sure that Gerald would feel comfortable having his teeth made several shades whiter. Again, Gerald said he would leave it up to Dr. Huefner.

Dr. Huefner said he appreciated Gerald's confidence, but he had to make sure that Gerald approved of the color before doing his cosmetic dentistry. The solution to this was for Dr. Huefner to create temporary veneers of Gerald in the size, length, shape and color that Dr. Huefner thought would look best. Then Dr. Huefner would place the temporary veneers, or "trial smile", on Gerald's teeth and let him "test drive" the new smile before fabricating the permanent porcelain veneers for him. This was done and Gerald loved the design created for him and the permanent porcelain veneers were then crafted by Dr. Huefner's master ceramist Dave Stohlman.

AFTER: Gerald's new smile with porcelain veneers by Dr. Huefner

As you might imagine, Geral was absolutely thrilled with his smile makeover with porcelain veneers. Not only did he look healthier and more professional, but people also commented that he looked 10 years younger!

Gerald looked ten years younger with his new smile makeover by Dr. Huefner.

Dr. Norman Huefner, General and Cosmetic Dentistry, Laguna Niguel, CA

Labels: cost porcelain veneers orange county, how much do lumineers cost, porcelain caps rancho santa margarita, teeth bleaching laguna niguel

Labels: cost porcelain veneers orange county, irvine porcelain veneers, newport beach cosmetic dentist, teeth whitening laguna niguel