Whitening involves a colour change of your teeth through breaking down stain molecules in the enamel and the dentine. Veneers cover the front of the teeth with a small, made-to-fit shell that covers the colour, the shape, the size and the alignment all at once. One is a chemical treatment of the natural tooth structure, and the other is a physical restoration attached on the top. That single difference is behind all other aspects such as cost or durability, the person each alternative suits and so on.
What really counts in the real world is how reversible a decision it is. Whitening is not a permanent change to your teeth that fades after some time, so in case the result is bad, it will get better on its own. In general, veneers need a preparation step of removing some amount of enamel, usually around 0.3mm to 0.7mm from the front of the teeth and since enamel does not regenerate, you can't get that loss back. If a tooth has already gone through preparation for a veneer, it is pretty much impossible to leave it without further work. You can either do a veneer or crown on it until you die. Veneers do not necessarily have to be your enemies, but it is definitely this unique consideration that will help you not to agree at once to any of the options.
Which Discolouration Does Whitening Actually Fix?
Whitening effectively removes surface stains caused by tea coffee, red wine, curry and smoking. Then again, it also successfully removes the yellowed colour that gets developed in years; that is the case when enamel thins and shows the naturally darker dentine underneath more. Yet, whitening can achieve results with the type of staining that originates within the tooth quite inconsistently. For example, Tetracycline discoloration, which is caused by antibiotic use during teeth formation, and results in browning and grey lines, has been found to work very poorly, or not work at all. Whitening agents may even make White patches caused by Fluorosis more obvious after the surrounding teeth have been lightened and the patches remain the same. A single dark tooth following root canal treatment or trauma is once again a whole new problem and is normally addressed by internal bleaching treatment rather than the standard tray system.
And, whitening is completely unaffected by any dentistry work that has been done. Composite fillings, crowns and bridges remain at their original shade, which leads to a front tooth with a big old filling appearing visibly out of place even after treatment. That means you need to replace any restoration within your smile a little bit after whitening ends, generally around the two-week mark once your colour is no longer changing a lot.
What Does Getting Veneers Involve?
The procedure usually takes two or three appointments spread out over about two to four weeks. The initial meeting involves several important steps like an examination, taking some pictures, selecting a suitable tooth shade against a standardized scale (e.g. Vita scale), and most typically carrying out a mock-up that allows the patient to visualize the proposed look before actually getting it done. The subsequent sessions may include teeth conditioning, taking impressions or making a digital scan, installing provisional veneers, and ultimately, a fitting appointment where the final work will be fixed onto the teeth with resin cement.
Different material selections can influence not only aesthetic results but also the preparation requirement. Feldspathic porcelain is hand-stacked by a laboratory technician and allows it to be very thin. That property gives it the ability to appear almost like a natural tooth with its translucency, which is why it is often selected for a front tooth reconstruction where naturalness of the result is key. E.MAX Lithium Disilicate, as it is known commercially, is a very good material for people with habits of grinding or clenching the teeth, as it is quite a bit less prone to breakage. In case composite veneers are chosen, the patient will not need any preparation and the dentist will directly apply the composite material. Composite material is quite affordable; on the contrary, it is more prone to discoloration and will have to be changed every four to seven years.
There is also a meaningful difference between preparation approaches. Minimal-prep and no-prep options exist for people whose teeth are already small or slightly recessed, and these preserve almost all the enamel. They do not work for everyone, and applying a no-prep veneer to a tooth that is already prominent produces a bulky result. Anyone considering porcelain veneers should ask specifically how much enamel will be removed from each tooth and see a mock-up in their own mouth before the drill comes out, because a trial smile made from temporary material answers questions that a photograph cannot.
What Do They Cost and How Long Do They Last?
Whitening teeth in the UK at the dental practice is normally in the vicinity of 250 to 500 where you get a take-home custom-fitted teeth whitening tray. With this method, you need to wear your trays for a little while each day or perhaps all night during the period of two to three weeks. In-office bleaching, also known as laser or power whitening, ranges roughly from 400 to 800 for a single one-and-a-half-hour visit. One or the other of these methods might be used: some clinics start with the chairside whitening, then prescribe maintenance trays, while others use only home-care trays after in-office treatment. According to smoking habits and diet, these whitened results can be expected to last for about a year or three years; occasionally, a few top-up nights can prolong the effectiveness greatly.
Veneers yet involve a much larger budget. On average, porcelain veneers per tooth range from 500 to 1,200; and of course the price goes up to the sky if you go to a high-end London specialist, or if the technique is to build up feldspar porcelain layers by hand. Since it is quite common for a person to require six to ten teeth treatment to even the dental arch of the smile, a full set case would probably cost you anything between 5,000 and 12,000. For composite veneers, the per-tooth price ranges from 200 to 500 only. Lifetime is reversed with the use of these materials as well. Good quality porcelain veneers may easily last you 10-15 years or even longer; some studies have found that survival rates are much higher among those bonded-to-enamel porcelain restorations only after 10-15 years of time. Normally, the failure is due to chipping, separation, or exposing of the interface at the gumline, rather than porcelain getting worn out itself.
Who Should Choose Which?
If your teeth are perfectly aligned, undamaged and only darker than you would like, there's no doubt that whitening is the starting point. Other approaches would offer so little that they would be hard to argue for. Also, they cost much less, remove no material from the tooth, and are completely safe with no limit on the number of repetitions.
Dental problems caused by shape rather than shade make veneers the right option. Examples are worn tooth edges caused by grinding, slight gaps between teeth, a very small chip of a tooth, teeth that are much narrower or resemble pegs, slightly crowded teeth that you want to leave without orthodontic treatment. Whitening won't do anything to them at all.
Naturally, there are cases which don't clearly fit one solution over the other. Usually, the sequence is whitening first, followed by the placement of a smaller number of veneers or bonding of composite on the teeth that still appear incorrect. This method leaves four or six of the teeth untouched as well as reduces preparation costs. Age also plays a big role. The decision to go for veneers at the age of 20 means that one will probably go through the renewal of materials two or three times in a lifetime. A 50-year-old patient doesn't have to go through all of it.
