Porcelain Veneers
Smile Design for Palo Alto Patients

Every veneer case at PAAD begins with digital smile design — a process where photographs of your face and teeth are analysed and a proposed smile is designed on screen before any tooth preparation begins. You see a realistic digital preview of the planned veneer shapes, lengths, and proportions. This eliminates guesswork and ensures you are fully aligned with the aesthetic outcome before committing to treatment. Adjustments are made digitally until the design is exactly right.

Veneer preparation removes only 0.3 to 0.5mm of enamel from the outer tooth surface — a wafer-thin reduction that is approximately the thickness of a fingernail. This is dramatically less than a crown preparation (which removes 1.5mm or more from all surfaces). The prepared surface is almost entirely within enamel, preserving the underlying dentin and maintaining the tooth's structural integrity. In some cases — particularly for short or gapped teeth — preparation is minimal to none.

An intraoral digital scan captures the prepared teeth with precision. Shade selection is performed using digital photography under calibrated lighting, capturing the subtle colour characteristics of adjacent natural teeth — their hue, translucency, and surface texture. This data guides the ceramist in producing veneers that integrate seamlessly with your natural dentition. Veneers can be made lighter than natural teeth to achieve a brightening effect within natural aesthetic limits.

Temporary composite veneers are placed on the prepared teeth while the porcelain veneers are fabricated in the laboratory. Temporaries serve two important functions: they protect the prepared enamel and they give you a functional preview of the final smile proportions. Dr. Ho uses this phase to refine any details — adjusting length, edge shape, or emergence profile — before the permanent veneers are bonded.

Porcelain veneers are bonded using a meticulous adhesive protocol: the tooth surface is etched, primed, and bonded; the veneer interior is etched and silanated; and a light-cured resin cement selected to match the planned shade is applied. Excess cement is removed before curing, and the veneer is light-cured in segments. The bite is checked and any occlusal refinements made. The final surface is polished to a high lustre that mimics natural enamel gloss.