Sometimes, you need to wear temporary veneers until you can get a permanent solution for your teeth. With that in mind, do temporary veneers look bad, and should you worry about getting them? Let’s take a closer look at this dental option.
What Are Temp Veneers Made Of And How Do They Look?
Temporary veneers are usually made of acrylic, which is a transparent type of plastic. It’s a popular choice in various industries because it’s light, exceptionally durable, transparent, and resistant to chemicals. Even in the rare cases when it breaks, acrylic fractures into pieces with dull edges. This isn’t a minor consideration for putting something in your mouth.
Unfortunately, acrylic isn’t suitable for long-term dental use. While durable, it’s not quite strong enough to withstand the constant stress of chewing. Temporary veneers can also pop off if they get too much pressure from the wrong direction.
So, do temporary veneers look bad? In most cases, no. Since these veneers are clear, most people won’t even notice you’re wearing them. However, they could reveal large cracks or other damaged areas on your tooth’s surface, so rather than looking bad, they may fail to make your smile look good. This is an important distinction.
Why Might Temporary Veneers Be Necessary?
The main reason to wear a temporary veneer is to protect your tooth while a lab creates a permanent veneer. Most dentists cannot create custom-made permanent veneers on-site, and it could take up to several weeks for them to be made and delivered. If you need to protect your tooth in the meantime, temporary veneers are often the best choice.
In that sense, the question of whether or not temporary veneers look bad is less important. Safety always comes first, and since these are temporary by nature, even looking bad for a short time should not be a significant issue.
Temporary veneers have a number of other benefits, including being extremely affordable and usually not requiring any additional drilling or sedation. You may need to go through that anyway if your dentist is preparing your tooth, but it’s not always the case.
Foods To Avoid With Temporary Veneers
While temporary veneers are impressively durable, given the circumstances in which people use them, there are some foods you’re better off avoiding. These include:
- Hard Foods: Popcorn, candy, some raw fruits and vegetables, and even ice can cause a temporary veneer to pop off
- Sticky Foods: Taffy, caramel, and other sticky substances can grip a temporary veneer and pull it off
- Staining Agents: Stain-causing foods like coffee, tea, tomatoes, cola, and red wine can discolour a temporary veneer. Acrylic resists chemical damage, but can’t totally stop it, so eating too much of these will affect the veneer.
In general, if a food requires more pressure than usual to eat, you should avoid it while wearing temporary veneers. Consider making smoothies or processing foods in other ways to make them easier to eat.