Treatment
Dental veneers
A thin shell bonded to the front of the tooth. It changes the shape, the shade and the line of a smile while taking less of the tooth than any other covering — which is the whole argument for it.
- Visits
- One or two
- In Istanbul
- 4–6 days
- Tooth removed
- Under 1 mm
- Lifespan
- 10–15 years
What it is
A veneer is a facing, not a cap. Where a crown covers the whole tooth, a veneer covers what shows — so the preparation is a fraction of a millimetre of enamel rather than the outer shell of the tooth. For a tooth that is healthy but the wrong shape, colour or length, that difference is the reason to choose it.
What a veneer will not do is straighten a badly crowded mouth or rescue a tooth that is already heavily filled. Teeth far out of line want moving, not facing; teeth with little structure left want a crown, which protects what remains. A veneer is a cosmetic answer to a cosmetic problem, and the examination is what tells you which one you have.
The best thing about a veneer is what it leaves behind: the tooth. Take more than you need and you can never give it back.
Prof. Dr. Coşkun Yıldız
Which one you need
One or two teeth
The hard part is matching, not making: a single veneer has to sit beside your own enamel and not announce itself. It is the case that most rewards a good ceramist.
A chipped or discoloured tooth beside healthy ones
The smile line
Designed as one piece of work rather than as eight separate teeth, which is what keeps the proportions from looking mechanical.
The six to ten teeth that show
Veneers after alignment
Aligners or braces first, veneers second. It adds months and it saves tooth: straightening a tooth costs nothing of it, and grinding one into line costs it permanently.
Teeth crowded as well as worn
Two ways of fixing it on
Porcelain and E.max
- Made in the laboratory and bonded on at a second appointment, so it takes a few days rather than an afternoon.
- E.max is lithium disilicate: stronger than feldspathic porcelain and translucent in the way enamel is, which is what keeps it from reading as a flat white plate.
- It does not stain. Coffee, tea and tobacco mark the tooth beside it before they mark the veneer.
- Ten to fifteen years is the usual figure, and often longer.
Composite
- Built straight onto the tooth by hand, in one visit, with no laboratory stage in between.
- Less costly and less permanent — which cuts both ways: it can be repaired and re-polished in the chair rather than remade.
- It stains over time, the way a white filling does, and it wears faster.
- Five to seven years, and the sensible choice for a small correction or for a patient who wants to try the shape before committing to porcelain.
What happens to you
Two visits, and a wait at home in between
Before you fly
Photographs and a plan
Photographs of your smile, and a sentence about what you want changed. You get back the material, the number of teeth and the price before a flight is booked.
Day 1
Examination and design
An examination of what is under the enamel as well as on it, then the new smile designed digitally and shown to you before anything is prepared.
Day 1–2
Preparation and temporaries
Under a millimetre of enamel is removed and temporaries go on in the agreed shape — a rehearsal you wear home to the hotel rather than a picture on a screen.
Days 3–5
The laboratory
Pressed, layered and glazed in our own laboratory in the building, which is what makes a change of shade an afternoon rather than another trip.
Day 5–6
Bonding
Tried in, checked against your bite and your face, and only then bonded. Nothing is cemented before you have seen it and agreed to it.
Getting here
Istanbul is a direct flight from most of Europe and from ten North American cities.
| Departure city | Flight time | Airlines |
|---|---|---|
| UK | ||
| London (LHR/LGW/STN) | ~3h 50m | Turkish Airlines, BA, Pegasus |
| Manchester / Birmingham | ~4h 10m | Turkish Airlines, Jet2, Pegasus |
| Ireland | ||
| Dublin (DUB) | ~4h 30m | Turkish Airlines |
| Europe | ||
| Amsterdam (AMS) | ~3h 30m | Turkish Airlines, KLM, Pegasus |
| Switzerland | ||
| Zurich (ZRH) / Geneva | ~3h 10m | Turkish Airlines, SWISS, Pegasus |
| Denmark | ||
| Copenhagen (CPH) | ~3h 25m | Turkish Airlines, SAS, Pegasus |
| Norway | ||
| Oslo (OSL) | ~3h 55m | Turkish Airlines, Norwegian, SAS |
| Sweden | ||
| Stockholm (ARN) | ~3h 50m | Turkish Airlines, SAS, Pegasus |
| USA | ||
| New York (JFK / EWR) | ~10h direct | Turkish Airlines, United |
| Chicago (ORD) | ~11h direct | Turkish Airlines |
| Los Angeles (LAX) | ~13h direct | Turkish Airlines |
| Canada | ||
| Toronto (YYZ) / Vancouver | ~10–12h direct | Turkish Airlines, Air Canada |
| Australia | ||
| Sydney / Melbourne | ~17–20h, 1 stop | Turkish Airlines, Qatar, Emirates |
Questions
Do veneers ruin your teeth?
A porcelain veneer takes under a millimetre of enamel, and that enamel does not grow back — so the tooth is committed to being veneered from then on. It is a real trade and it should be made deliberately, which is why a tooth that needs nothing is better left alone.
Porcelain or composite?
Porcelain for longevity, colour stability and a full smile line. Composite for one small correction, for a smaller budget, or when you want something reversible enough to change your mind about.
Can veneers be whitened later?
No. Ceramic does not respond to bleach, so whitening — if you want it — is done before the shade is chosen, and the veneers are matched to the teeth at their new colour.
Will they come off?
A well-bonded veneer stays on. What loosens one is usually grinding, biting something it was never meant to meet, or decay in the tooth underneath — and a night guard answers the first of those.
How many appointments?
Composite is one. Porcelain and E.max are two, four to six days apart, which is one trip rather than two.
Patients
The people who already came
Six of our patients, filmed at the clinic and talking about their own treatment. They are the clinic’s patients rather than any one procedure’s — what each of them had is in the film.
Find out if this is what you need
Send a photograph and a sentence about what is wrong. You will get a named doctor, a plan and a price — before you book a flight.
