Q.
I’ve recently turned 40 – yuk – and decided to do something about my smile. I have a crown on the tooth next to my upper canine which is now more yellow than white and two veneers on the bottom front centre teeth which “wrap” over the top of the teeth to make them slightly longer, similarly they are slightly discoloured. I have previously whitened my teeth which looked wonderful except for the crown and veneers! I have since then tried to “top up” the effect because I am a smoker and drink a lot of tea and over the years my teeth have lost the whiteness again.

I was told to re-do the home whitening and did so – this time I developed some white spots on two teeth, a recent visit to a different dentist revealed that the home system I was using is fairly ineffectual and old technology – I had to use it overnight and my teeth had become sensitized. I am now using the home system by Zoom called “Day White” at a 9.5% strength for an hour a day to try and restore the former whiteness.

My two top centre teeth have had composite work done to fill an existing gap when I was 20 and the mid-line is slightly off. I would like a brighter smile and whiter teeth and after much research believe that veneers are the best way to achieve this (obviously I also need to replace the existing crown). I’ve been interested to read about your “one-day” onsite smile makeover and although I can see the benefit in having an onsite technician who can exactly match the veneers to the patient, am interested to know whether veneers created in this way are as good, quality and durability wise, as the more usual veneers one has to wait a number of weeks for. I was recently told that German and American labs produce far better quality – is this true? L