Welcome to my first blog! I never picked me for being a blog kinda gal. However, thanks to Instagram DM’s here we!

These blogs are written entirely with honesty and genuine reviews of experiences and products that I believe will help with many unanswered questions. Nothing here is fabricated, photoshopPed or manipulated in anyway.

So strap yourself in.

As you can see from the title we are here to talk about composite (also known as bonding) and porcelain veneers. I have had both types of veneers, so this is my first-hand experience. In 2013, I decided I wanted to elevate my smile and simple extend my second front teeth to be the same length as my main front teeth. I have attached an image of my birth teeth. We will continue to refer to them as my ‘birth teeth’ to simplify things.

Little leah on her first international modelling stint in singapore. these are my birth teeth which are noticeable different sizes.

So with little research and little cash, I found a small dental clinic on google who advertised veneers at a pretty good price. This probably should have been the first red flag!

The clinic simply added composite bonds to the bottom of my small teeth. They didn’t cover the entire tooth, just built on the bottom. Now, I thought this was a good solution because they were suppose to look natural. In fact, they looked transparent, cheap and full of flaws.

hi emma! my first experience with veneers. you can see they are just slightly extended.

The dentist did not take moulds of my smile or measure my bite. It was a very in and out procedure. Because these veneers were not correctly fitted to my smile, I ended up snapping one off while I was asleep. Horrific experience! I had no time to repair this before work, so I went to bunnings and superglued the bonding back on my tooth.

one of my friends had just had a set of composite veneers fitted by an dentist out in Berwick, her COMPOSITES looked completely different to mine.

This experience was a complete 180 from my first cosmetic dental appointment. which i believe this was the correct way to EXPERIENCE cosmetic dental work. this included:

- taking modules my teeth

- photographing my teeth

- looking at my bite

- checking my overall teeth health

This is COMPOSITE veneers applied to my birth teeth. you can see how different they are to natural teeth. they appear more bulky and opaque.

So basically, with Composites veneers only a very small front layer is removed from your natural teeth. Its honestly such a small amount that its not even worth me mentioning. The overall procedure was pretty straight forward. The Composites material is like a white paste. The paste is then placed on top of your birth teeth and moulded to your teeth in the chair. They are then shaped and buffed on the spot. The plastic paste is then placed under a blue light which sets and hardens the material. Here I was with halfway through which took around 3 hours in the chair.

Composites do not have any ridged or defects like natural teeth. i went down this road knowing that Composites veneers do not last forever and at some stage they would need to be placed. With my procedure finished, I did feel like my teeth were a lot thicker and heavier. Even after 5 years I never felt fully comfortable with them.

So fast forward 5 years, my Composites began to go yellow in the corners and holes start to form. I had a tiny little hole in my front right tooth. Only I could see it which ultimately means I think everyone is looking at it when they talk to mee. I was really lucky that my composites lasted this long with minimal defects as I always floss and really look after my teeth.

Back then the price of Composites was $400 per tooth. So, you get your 5 years’ worth out of that overall investment.

Fast forward to today. I knew it was time to update my composite veneers. I was really starting to notice the yellow stains building up between my teeth and I was at the point where I wanted natural looking teeth. I did things a little differently this time round. I am older, wiser and I appreciate the value you good quality. I found gorgeous smile dentistry on Instagram. I pretty much research using hashtags now instead of googling, funny how that’s my new normal now. What attached me was how natural and real their porcelain veneers appeared. I have never been more committed to a zoom in other than looking for facetune fails. I could not fault these veneers.

I’m my first appointment, I sat down with Dr Minoo and we had a really in-depth conversation about what I wanted. Dr Minoo was directional and had great transparency about achieving something I genuinely wanted. At this point I wasn’t sure if I want to commit to another set or composites or upgrade to porcelains. I mean, porcelains are more experience so its important to think about these decision.

My biggest downfall about composite veneers was the bulky and opaque appearance. I couldn’t achieve natural looking teeth with anything but porcelain veneers. At this point i decided to bite the bullet and make the commitment.

During the initial consultation with Dr Minoo we decided to book in my first appointment of the porcelain package, which was teeth whitening. So, the following week I went in and had my bottom teeth whitened which would match the colour of my new porcelain veneers.

I really struggle with teeth whitening, I find I can only get through 2 rounds before my mouth becomes too sensitive and shooting sharp pains frequently pulse through my teeth like lightening. However, it really worked well, and my bottom teeth were so white and crisp. After this procedure, Dr Minoo made modules of my current composite veneers. This module was used to create my ‘temporary teeth’. During this stage, we picked out the style of teeth I wanted and discussed the process of removal.

About 3 days later I was back and ready to remove my composites. My mouth was completely numbed with a number of aesthetic injections into my gums. Sounds scary but it’s so fine. This is my favourite part because you can just snooze off and let the masters do their work. For the next hour my plastic composites were shaved off and it was back to my birth teeth.

After the removal, another mould was made but this time my birth teeth. This mould was then sent to nova dental art. Nova Dental Art are a cosmetic laboratory that create the veneers. So usually what happens before you the laboratory creates your porcelain veneers, you are given temporary dentures that your wear for a week. These are aimed to be similar in size to the permeant veneers. Basically, you wear them and see if your speech changes or there is anything you are uncomfortable with. I though there were too many ridges on the bottom of my teeth and had that altered. Usually, you should be fairly careful with these temporary teeth. As you will see, I was not and mine ended up falling out. Luckily, I didn’t leave the house and no one saw me. However, let’s just pop this here for a laugh.

BAH! On the left the temporary are placed on. The excess glue and moulding is removed. On thee right is when mine came off. im not really sure why i added this filter.

So, while I was test driving the temporary teeth, Nova Dental Art hand crafted my porcelain veneers. They even hand painted them to look identical to natural teeth. So overall, Porcelains are made from a high strength ceramic material and set in a furnace. They look like little shells, but they are extremely durable.

Around 7 days later was my big final appointment. I was back in the dental chair with Dr Minoo having my mouth numbed again. I had the option of having my mouth numbed for this appointment. Some people tend to go without, because my birth teeth were still sensitive, I found it a little too uncomfortable. After the numbing, your birth teeth are slightly buffed again, and each veneer is glued cement agent. This is cemented on and there is no way of them coming off. This is then followed by another blue light to harden everything. This appointment maybe took around 45 minutes.

This is the final result!

Porcelain Veneers can last between 10-20 years. I’m probably going to predict longer if you look after them like I do. I floss most days and don’t smoke or eat a lot of sugar.

After the numbing had worn off my new veneers felt really good. They felt less bulk and heavy. I love to rub my tongue against them and feel the ridges. I have full confidence in them and feel really secure.
Porcelains do not go yellow in the edges and the chances of defects are very slim. They feel more natural in my mouth and comfortable.

So, what is my overall opinion? Reflecting back on all the different types of veneers I have had over the years I can see that my biggest consideration was the price. Opting for cheaper options ultimately costs me more money in the long run. Composite veneers were a great introduction to cosmetic dentistry. However, they do not last, and they do need replacement which over the years is an experience commitment. If I knew then what I knew now I would have probably bit the bullet and invested in a good pair of porcelains. That way I secure for up 20 years. Porcelain veneers are around $1000 per tooth. I had 8 veneers which is about $8000. Whereas, my 8 composites at the time were around $4000 mark. If I was to redo my composites, it would be another $4000 every 5 years or so. Which I think it a real waste of time, money and trauma to your birth teeth.

Overall, I love my porcelains and feel they are the perfect fit for me. I also highly recommend Dr Minoo and the team at Gorgeous Smiles. They made the experience really comforting and the transition very easy. If you are tossing up between the two types of veneers, I hope you found my experience useful and informative.

With Love,

composite vs porcelain veneers

LASH LIFTS

the use of Roaccutane