Why Do People Regret No-Prep Laminate Veneers? “It Looks Like Xylitol,” “My Front Teeth Look Pushed Out”… Side Effects and Prevention, All in One Place

Hello,

This is Apgujeong Yonsei Baro Dental Clinic, and we’d like to introduce Apgujeong no-prep laminate veneers, Jelami.

Yonsei Baro Dental Clinic is basically an orthodontic specialty clinic. However, in many cases—such as restoring worn areas of the front teeth after orthodontic treatment, treating discoloration that cannot be resolved with whitening, or improving the aesthetics of small teeth after orthodontic treatment—collaboration between orthodontics and laminate veneers is needed more often than you might expect.

Conventional laminate veneers require a tooth-reduction process, whether minimal-prep or otherwise, but no-prep laminate veneers are attached without shaving the teeth at all, using veneers made very thinly to fit the outer surface of the tooth.

It is similar to attaching nail tips.

If a laminate veneer breaks or you want to remove it, there is intact tooth structure left underneath, so compared with veneers that do not involve tooth reduction, Jelami is a less burdensome treatment.

Even with these advantages, there are cases where people regret getting no-prep laminate veneers after the fact.

Once they are placed, the teeth look too big.

They look like xylitol.

The front teeth look too protruded.

Because the front teeth become thicker, the lips feel uncomfortable.

For these reasons, there are many cases where people regret no-prep laminate veneers.

I will explain these three points one by one.

First, the most common side effect is:

Once they are placed, the teeth look too big. They look like xylitol.

Because the front teeth become thicker, the lips feel uncomfortable.

For these reasons, there are many cases where people regret no-prep laminate veneers.

I will explain these three points one by one.

First, the most common side effect.

Once they are placed, the teeth look too big. They look like xylitol.

Depending on the skill of the dental technician and the design, no-prep laminate veneers may fail to recreate the natural tooth shape, which becomes thinner as it approaches the gum line. In that case, the teeth can look too square and give a xylitol-like impression.

In particular, square-shaped front teeth look very unnatural on people with a slim face.

Because the front teeth become thicker, the lips feel uncomfortable.

Since no-prep laminate veneers do not involve any tooth reduction at all, even if the veneers are made very thin, they still feel slightly thicker than before.

If you dislike the feeling of thicker teeth, one layer of the tooth surface can be shaved off, but it is better not to reduce the tooth. The subtlety of this difference can only be determined by actually trying the veneers on the teeth at their real thickness to see whether it falls within the patient’s acceptable range.

The front teeth look pushed out.

Veneers that make the front teeth thicker and exaggerate protrusion Source: Google Images

Orthodontists constantly make fine adjustments to the angle of the front teeth.

They are very sensitive to front tooth angles.

If someone’s front teeth already feel slightly flared or protruded relative to their face or lips, then after veneers are placed, that flared or protruded feeling becomes even more pronounced.

No-prep laminate veneers fundamentally require the front teeth to be neatly aligned.

Alignment and protrusion are separate issues, so if the teeth are aligned but flared, as in the photo above, that becomes a problem.

The three issues above can be easily solved by using conventional laminate veneers with tooth reduction.

No-prep laminate veneers are much more difficult to make beautiful than veneers that involve shaving the natural teeth.

Fitting laminate veneers

To prevent these problems in advance, you can try a fitting before getting no-prep laminate veneers.

You directly attach temporary plastic veneers shaped like the final veneers and check everything in detail, including color, the roundness of the incisal edge, interdental spaces, thickness, shape, length, and angle.

Not only that, but you also try smiling, check the smile line, speak, and carefully examine every point where the lips may catch.

By doing a fitting like this, you may conclude that conventional veneers with tooth reduction are better because of the thickness, or if you absolutely do not want any tooth reduction, it may be better not to get veneers at all.

What no-prep laminate veneers look like during fitting

No-prep laminate veneers

have the major advantage of preserving the teeth,

but they are not a treatment that suits everyone unconditionally.

If protrusion,

tooth thickness,

lip balance,

and harmony with face shape

are not fully considered,

there can actually be cases where patients regret the treatment.

That is why, before treatment,

adequate consultation and the fitting process are truly important.

If you are considering no-prep laminate veneers,

don’t look only at the fact that they “don’t involve shaving.”

Be sure to check whether they truly suit your face and lip line.

This has been Apgujeong Yonsei Baro Dental Clinic.