Dental veneers are one of the most innovative ways to replace teeth enamel that has become damaged, discolored, or is no longer appealing to look at. When teeth are not as white as they should be or are misplaced, you can use dental veneers to help solve these problems. As they get more popular, people want to know how long these devices will last. This is actually a very good question. Dental veneers are placed by removing a small part of the surface enamel and then using dental cement to hold the dental veneers in place. From our perspective, we know that dental veneers tend to last at least 10 years. Naturally, this depends a great deal on how well you take care of your teeth and if you do things that may put your teeth and dental veneers at risk. There have been numerous studies done around the longevity of veneers. What we have found is that when we studied people who have veneers, the largest group was people whose veneers lasted between five and six years. When the time frame was expanded to between 10 and 11 years, that number dropped but not significantly. People whose veneers had lasted this long accounted for 93 percent, which was almost the same as people whose veneers had lasted for between 12 and 13 years (91 percent). This shows that people who take care of their veneers can have them last a very long time. The first real drop we saw in the study was when we expanded the life cycle of the dental veneers to between 15 and 16 years. When we looked at the number of patients whose veneers had lasted this long, we found that 71 percent still had their original veneers without any need for repair or replacement.With dental veneers, as with many things, how well you take care of them will determine how well they will last for you. You cannot do things like using your teeth as a tool, as you risk damaging the teeth and can reduce the life of your dental veneers. We have found that of all the dental veneers that failed, 45 percent of them failed because they had a fracture due to trauma, which can include putting too much pressure on them. An additional 28 percent failed because they were cracked, also a kind of trauma. This shows a very direct correlation between how long your veneers can last and what you do with your teeth.
Another thing to be aware of when it comes to your veneers is that they will respond to your oral health habits. Bad habits can lead to things like gum disease, which can cause the dental veneers to fail. In fact, 13 percent of failed veneers did so because of complications with gum disease. Seven percent failed because of plaque buildup that took place because the patient had bad oral health habits. These are easy to avoid with a little bit of diligence and can greatly extend the life of your veneers.
