When I think of cosmetic dentistry, typically everyone thinks about veneers and thinks about smile makeover, and that’s a good place to start. The traditional way of doing veneers or full mouth reconstruction can be challenging in the preparation phase of it. You know, how much are we going to drill on the teeth? What do we do as far as temporaries for two to three weeks? How does somebody utilize a temporary for two to three weeks? There’s always been those challenges, and so about a year and a half ago, I came up and came across a system called First Fit.
First Fit is a veneer system where we’re able to pre-plan everything in a digital format and utilize a series of guides. The lab sends back a set of guides that we snap on, kind of like a mouthpiece, and a very special, unique handpiece, which is the drill that has a keyway in it. It allows us predictably remove just the right amount of tooth so that when we put the veneers on, the veneers look amazing.
But the most important part of this is that we have eliminated the need for temporaries for two to three weeks. Temporary veneers are a challenge to keep on. They’re a challenge for the patient.
They can be very frustrating. So what this looks like is we do all the work up front. We digitally plan the case.
The lab sends the guides, and the lab also sends the final porcelain veneers. So once we prepare the teeth with a series of guides, then we bond the permanent veneers on there immediately that same day. So it’s able to utilize same-day cosmetic dentistry in a way that I was never able to before, even though I had the capability of technically being able to print or mill, say, 10 veneers in one appointment.
Technically I could do that, but it would take an awful lot of time for me to do that. Where in this situation, all the planning is done up front, and then we’re able to execute the procedure and bond the veneers in the same day.
