Experience excellence with porcelain veneers by world-renowned cosmetic dentist Dr. Corky Willhite. At the Smile Design Center, our smile makeovers are custom-designed to give you precisely the look you desire, whether you want a subtle improvement or a total change. With our thorough, multi-step process, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting before your veneers are bonded — a stunning smile that suits you perfectly.
Dr. Willhite is a master at helping patients define their goals, understand their options, and achieve success with the most conservative and cost-effective approach.
Problems Solved by Veneers
Porcelain veneers can provide more dramatic changes for your teeth and are a good choice for smile makeovers. This technique is popular because it creates so much improvement with less tooth reduction than crowns.
Conservative Porcelain Veneers
Porcelain veneers dramatically improve the appearance of teeth with thin, custom-made porcelain “laminates” bonded over the fronts of your teeth. With traditional porcelain veneers, just a little enamel is removed so that the veneers don’t feel bulky. Or with no-prep (or “prepless”) porcelain veneers, the porcelain is bonded on without any enamel being removed. Once this incredibly natural restoration is bonded on, it is very strong.
Porcelain veneers are the most popular option for smile makeovers, partly due to the ceramist at the dental laboratory taking much of the responsibility for the beauty of the final results. The dentist shapes the teeth, the ceramist fabricates the porcelain laminates, and then the dentist bonds them onto the teeth — a team effort!
To Dr. Willhite, preserving your natural tooth structure is a high priority. As such, he uses no-prep veneers at every allowable opportunity. This type of veneer fits right over your natural tooth so that no portion of the enamel need be removed. And in cases when no-prep veneers cannot be used, Dr. Willhite performs a very minimal enamel reduction, carefully removing the minimal amount of tooth structure — as little as 0.3 mm, about as thin as a fingernail — for the optimum fit and esthetic of the ultrathin veneer.
To see examples of beautiful smiles Dr. Willhite has designed for his patients, we welcome you to visit our Smile Gallery.
Our Porcelain Veneer Process
Curious how a beautiful smile comes to be? Here’s a look at the steps we take to make your vision a reality.
1) Consultation
The consultation is your first appointment, and we start by listening. We want to know your goals, so we carefully listen to you first. We’ll analyze your current smile and explain options to achieve your goals. We’ll also answer any questions you may have.
When you’re ready to move forward, we’ll need to gather more records so we can evaluate your teeth in detail and develop a treatment plan tailored specifically to you. Sometimes, we can take care of the next “records” appointment while you’re in for your initial consultation. Otherwise, we will schedule for a later convenient time.
2) Records Appointment: Exam & Smile Design
At your records appointment, Dr. Willhite will perform a more detailed oral examination of the potential teeth that will be treated, assessing the health of your teeth, gums, bite, and more as it pertains to your cosmetic treatment and goals. In addition, we’ll take any necessary radiographs and photographs of your smile as well as make study models of your teeth.
Open communication about your smile makeover goals is essential to our success. At this stage, we will discuss your esthetic goals in detail, inviting you to share your vision of your ideal smile. To prepare for this, ask yourself the question:
“If you could wave a magic wand, what would you want to change about your smile?”
3) Cosmetic Presentation — Making Your Treatment Plan
After carefully reviewing all of the information from your initial consultation and records appointment, Dr. Willhite will then explain the smile design options tailored to your individual situation. He’ll show you photos to discuss the best treatment options. He’ll make sure you truly understand the options to help you make decisions about elements of your smile design, including the shape, length, characterizations, and number of teeth to be treated to achieve your goals. If you’d like, he can use computer imaging to show you how your new smile would look in a photo, or a “cosmetic preview” can be done by adding material to your teeth for a short-term intra-oral preview.
4) Preparation
At the preparation appointment, Dr. Willhite will prepare the teeth by reducing the minimum amount of tooth structure, if needed, appropriate for each tooth being treated. We’ll take an impression that is sent to our world-class ceramist, along with very detailed instructions regarding how to build each porcelain restoration.
Depending on the amount of preparation, you may or may not need provisional, “temporary” veneers. In the case that you do, each provisional veneer will be individually handcrafted by Dr. Willhite to mimic the esthetics of the finished product so that you can get an idea of the look and feel of your new smile before the lab begins crafting the porcelain restorations. After having some time to evaluate the improvements in your smile and bite with the temporary veneers on your teeth, you and Dr. Willhite can fine-tune any particular aspects of the design or details so that the dental laboratory is able to create the most ideal veneers for your new smile.
5) Veneer Delivery: Bonding Your Veneers
When your porcelain veneers are ready, they will be evaluated carefully for fit and proper function, and then you’ll be able to view the veneers in place. This “try-in” appointment is the time we want you to be the most critical. Although most cases are approved, if anything needs improvement, your case can be returned to the lab for a short time to be modified. Once you approve them, it will be time to put them on! Dr. Willhite will bond them to your teeth, and you’ll begin to enjoy your new smile for years to come!
The Lumineers Option
Lumineers are heavily marketed to the public, giving many people the impression that this is the only way to get a beautiful smile. But actually, Lumineers are only one of several specific brands of porcelain veneers.
While Lumineers may work well for some dental practices, Dr. Willhite tried them years ago and decided not to offer them in his practice. He has a long-standing relationship with a master ceramist who is also an Accredited Fellow of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. As a team, Dr. Willhite and his ceramist have created hundreds of stunning smiles, a feat he doesn’t feel would have been achieved with the large commercial laboratory in which Lumineers are made.
About Dr. Willhite
Dr. Corky Willhite has achieved Fellowship by the Academy of General Dentistry, the American College of Dentists, and the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. The AACD is the largest organization in the world dedicated to cosmetic dentistry, and Fellowship is the highest level of achievement recognized by the AACD. Dr. Willhite is one of fewer than 100 Accredited Fellows in the AACD worldwide. He is frequently invited to present lectures at major dental conferences and workshops, both in the United States and internationally.
His dental practice is also very unique because he has limited his practice to cosmetic dentistry for over 30 years. Although there is not an official specialty for cosmetic dentistry like there are for other dental specialties, Dr. Willhite’s office functions much like a specialty, and he receives referrals from both general dentists and specialists. His experience is based on a dedication to the belief that “excellence” and “esthetics” are not only compatible but can take dentistry to a new level of satisfaction and success. To learn more about Dr. Willhite, visit our Meet the Dentist page.
Porcelain Veneers For You
When you’re ready to begin your journey toward your new smile, we invite you to set up a consultation with Dr. Willhite by calling our office at (504) 831-1131. If you prefer, you may request an appointment online, and we’ll contact you to schedule.
