Meet Julie. She had braces done in our clinic before many years ago. But unfortunately for her, she stopped wearing her retainers and lost them after a while. The result of not wearing retainers usually ends up with a bit of relapse of her teeth alignment. And for her, the gap between the front two teeth started opening up again!

My immediate suggestion was to offer braces again, but she did not want to go through a second round of braces. So I suggested some close gap fillings or a half composite veneer on her front two teeth to close that small gap she had.

The first few questions I get asked from patients regarding composite veneers or close gap fillings are always the same;

1. Does it hurt?
2. How long is it going to take?
3. How long can it last?

And my answers are always the same!

1. Nope, it doesn’t hurt one bit!
2. It’ll take roughly 45mins – 1 hour. I’m a bit slower than my experienced colleagues, because my main concentration is on orthodontics.
3. It’ll last roughly 10-15 years depending on how well you take care of them. Which means regular yearly follow-up with scaling and polishing and possibly repairs of the veneers/fillings if it discolours or chips.

And in just 45 mins, her gaps were closed! She was beaming from EAR to EAR once I passed her the mirror. She kept on going “WOW, I can’t believe it! I look TOTALLY different!”. I was pleased she was happy, and that the colour matched perfectly.

So if ever in doubt, seek for a consultation with one of our doctors, or ask our nurses and clinic managers regarding the types of makeovers we can do for you. It can be life changing! – Dr. Shanaz