Video: How Permanent is Cosmetic Dentistry?

We always get the question from our patients is how long will this cosmetic dentistry last? It is such a hard question to answer, but when we talk about the permanence of cosmetic dentistry, we really have to consider the idea of life and lifestyle. Really, nothing in life is permanent. When we talk about the human body, we’re talking about, “How long is this going to last and still look really great”. 

From my perspective, there’s a bunch of different options that we have in order to consider the permanence of cosmetic dentistry. First we evaluate do we like the shape of our teeth? If we like the shape of our teeth and we’re just talking about the color, maybe dental whitening is appropriate for you. We’ve got some pretty fantastic dental whitening products that we can use that are really good value for what they can deliver. 

But, the permanence of dental whitening may not be what you’re looking for. A lot of touch ups are needed with something like that over time. So, we’ll do an in-office whitening and we’ll say that will last a few months. Then we have some take home kits for you as well to kind of touch it up over time. 

Then, maybe you do a whitening with us every year or so. For some that’s just like going to get your haircut or going to get Botox or some other cosmetic type treatments. They’re not permanent, but they do make you look great, and it’s a good value. That’s the one end of the spectrum.  

Let’s talk the other end of the spectrum heading some type of ceramic to your to your mouth ceramic veneers, ceramic crowns, something that’s fabricated in the lab with, new technology or, any of the, you know, high tech ceramics that we’re using today. 

Now, these can last and look beautiful for decades. The average lifespan of these has been touted in the literature to be about 10 to 15 years. But, that doesn’t mean that’s an expiration either. So, there’s no expiration date on crowns or veneers. There’s a couple of factors. Let’s just specifically talk about veneers for a minute. Your decay rate, the rate in which you get cavities could be a factor in how long things last. 

For example, the crowns or veneers may look beautiful, but there may be a cavity underneath. (Yes, you can get cavities underneath veneers.) That’s why it’s really important to choose the right product. Right in the middle is cosmetic bonding. Cosmetic bonding will look good for a number of years, but usually that actually stains and even wears out across the edges. 

I think going back to the important part of this question is the permanence of cosmetic dentistry. In many ways, it really relates to who you are. I call that the composite image of the person. If you have periodontal disease or uncontrolled diseases, underlying conditions, that’s problematic for long term success of anything that we do in dentistry. 

If you drink a lot of red wine and coffee, your whitening is going to fade a little bit more frequently than someone else who doesn’t. So, there are a lot of factors.  

When speaking about veneers, I would say for cosmetic dentistry to really last a long time, we have to have low susceptibility to tooth decay. However, don’t worry if you have susceptibility to tooth decay. We have really amazing long-term options for you for dental implants. And we can talk about that some other time.