Most people come in with a color for their ceramic veneers already in mind.
Usually it is white. Sometimes it is the whitest thing they have ever seen.
I understand why. But the color that looks best in a photo of a veneer is not always the color that looks best in your mouth.
The right color is the one that belongs to your face.
Translucency is a tool
Natural teeth let some light pass through them. That is part of what makes them look alive.
So it is easy to assume that more translucency always means more natural. It does not.
Translucency is a tool. Not everyone should have translucent teeth.
Here is how I think about it. More translucency can make a tooth read shorter. Less can help it read longer. If your teeth are long and I want them to look a little shorter, I can use more translucency. If your teeth are short and I want them to look longer, you should have very little.
The question is never whether translucency is good. The question is what your face needs.
Your lips change the color of your teeth
Your lips do more than frame your smile. They decide how much light reaches your teeth.
When the lip sits lower over the teeth, it casts a shadow on them. Porcelain that looks beautiful under bright light can look dull in that shadow. Sometimes it can even look gray.
For a smile like that, the right answer is often whiter and denser than you would expect. Less translucency, not more. In your light, on your face, that is what reads as bright and natural.
For someone else, with a different lip line and different teeth, the answer will be different. That is the point.
How I think about color in ceramic veneers
Color is never a separate decision. It goes together with shape, length and proportion, and with your skin, your lips and how much of your teeth show when you talk.
That is why your color is not decided at the end. In my process, you wear temporaries for two weeks before the final porcelain is made. They are a real preview of the result, not a placeholder.
Before you leave on prep day, we review the new smile together. Color. Shape. Proportion. How it sits on your face when you talk, laugh and eat. I adjust until you sign off.
Only then do the records go to our in-house lab. If you are curious about who takes it from there, I have written about who actually makes your veneers.
When you want them whiter
Tell me. That is a real preference, and it belongs in the conversation.
Wanting a brighter smile is not wrong. What I want is for you to see it on your own face, in real light, before anything is final. Sometimes whiter is exactly right. Sometimes a slightly softer color makes the whole smile look more like you.
Either way, we decide together. It is your smile, and I want us both to love it.
For the bigger picture of how I plan a smile, read my guide to porcelain veneers in Beverly Hills.
I see patients in Beverly Hills and New York.
Continue reading: Who makes your veneers? · Why a natural smile isn't perfectly symmetrical
Common questions
Are ceramic veneers the same as porcelain veneers?
Porcelain is a type of dental ceramic, and most people use the two terms for the same kind of veneer. What matters more is how the color, shape and translucency are designed for your face.
Why do some veneers look gray?
One common reason is shadow. When the lip sits low over the teeth, highly translucent porcelain can read gray. Those smiles often need a whiter, denser color with less translucency.
Can veneers be too white?
They can be the wrong white for your face. The right color depends on your lips, your skin, how much light reaches your teeth and what you want, so we judge it on your face rather than on its own.
When do I see the color of my veneers?
In my process, you see the direction in your temporaries, which you wear for two weeks. We review color, shape and proportion together, and you sign off before the records go to our in-house lab.
This article is general information only and not a substitute for a personal exam and treatment plan from your own dentist.
Cosmetic dentist at Apa Aesthetic in Beverly Hills and New York since 2015. NYU College of Dentistry. Founder and Chief Education Officer of Stribe, where she has trained more than 1,000 dentists.
About Dr. Andi
