Porcelain veneers are the ultimate esthetic restoration. They have the ability to totally restore the appearance of a tooth and yet, only cover a portion of that tooth. A porcelain veneer is a thin piece of porcelain that is fabricated in a laboratory and then bonded to the front surface of the tooth.

In most cases, a minimal amount of tooth structure must be removed to make space to place the veneer. Occasionally, very minimal or no reduction is necessary because the tooth, or teeth, have worn or were undersized naturally.

Veneers can be used to reshape an individual tooth or an entire arch of teeth. They can be used to close spaces, lengthen teeth, mask stains, or change colors. The very first veneers were fabricated to mask darkly stained teeth (generally from antibiotics taken when the teeth were still forming) and tended to be very opaque in appearance. With much better materials and bonding agents, today  they can appear very natural.