I have heard some lecturers say that they spend practically all day prepping and seating veneers. This has never been my experience, even after attending different institutes and making the office look like the only thing we did was cosmetic dentistry. It’s a good thing I didn’t decide to specialize in veneers and give up crown and bridge as last century’s dentistry.

I know I am not alone either. I talk to many dentists who have prepared for the onslaught of the esthetic revolution, only to find that patients were not as interested as the lecturers predicted. Some dentists were even ready to drop all insurance companies from their practices because they were going to focus solely on “appearance-related dentistry.”

I am surprised to say that I am doing more veneers today than ever before, and at volumes that many lecturers anticipated I would. What changed? My case presentation skills? The quality of my diagnostic wax-ups? Offering espresso and aromatherapy? Nope. The only thing that changed were the veneers. They got thinner. So thin that they could be made into no-prep veneers. And finally, I had something patients wanted to hear.

The ability to place veneers in properly selected cases with no drilling, temps or anesthetic is a big deal to a lot of patients. Dental phobics are one thing; however, I have encountered numerous patients who simply aren’t willing to grind their teeth down for esthetics.

The most surprising part has been that we do way more partial veneer cases than full veneer cases. In other words, the patient who needs old crowns replaced on #7, #8, #9 and #10 is very excited to find they can finish off their smile with no-preps on #4, #5, #6, #11, #12 and #13. No-prep veneers are my smile finisher. They help restorations blend in, correct deficient buccal corridors, and give patients an easy way to say yes to an enhanced and esthetically pleasing smile.