What to Do If Your Veneer Falls Off – 5 Essential Steps

Your initial response is probably panic, but if you keep calm, the situation is manageable to repair these wafer-thin, custom-made shells of tooth-colored materials that cover the front surface of teeth. You can follow these five simple steps to quickly get it back in place. If you want to reattach or replace your veneer, cosmetic dentists Dr. Rana Alan and Dr. Nancy Nehawandian at Top Down Dental can assess the situation and recommend how to proceed. We are happy to help people who got their veneers elsewhere and our own patients.

Step 1: Remove the Veneer from Your Mouth

If you knock out a tooth, you can keep it in your mouth to preserve it, but with a veneer, you want to get it out immediately. If it’s in one piece, great. If not, get out as many pieces as you can. Try not to swallow any piece of it. However, if you do swallow any pieces of the veneer, don’t worry — it’s not toxic, and it will pass through your system safely.

Step 2: Put the Veneer in a Safe Place

Once you have the veneer out of your mouth, clean it off and dry it gently. Although they are strong when attached to your tooth, it’s a very slim piece of ceramic and delicate when not attached. Once dry, put it in a hard-sided container with padding to avoid damage from jolts and shocks.

Step 3: Contact a Cosmetic Dentist

Now that the veneer is safely secured, you can contact a cosmetic dentist. The dentist will look at your tooth to determine if it’s best to reattach the veneer or replace it. Depending on why it came off, it may not be the best course of action to attach it. A dentist can only tell this by looking at the veneer and your tooth.

At Top Down Dental, we will always work hard to make room in our schedule for our patients when they have a problem. However, we are happy to help anyone in San Jose with this problem. Even if we didn’t initially place the veneer, we might be able to reattach or replace it.

Step 4: Take Care of Your Tooth

A lost veneer is not normally an emergency. When cosmetic dentists place a veneer, they try to remove as little tooth enamel as possible. This normally leaves some tooth enamel below the dental laminates, so the tooth is still well-protected if the dental shell comes off. You should be able to eat, drink, and brush your teeth normally without the veneer.

If you experience sensitivity related to the missing veneer, apply dental wax to the tooth surface. If the tooth is still sensitive, let us know. Don’t try to reattach the veneer yourself.

Step 5: Make Your Dental Appointment

Why your veneer came off will determine whether we can reattach it. We may be able to reattach a veneer that came off because of age or poor bonding. We expect the cemented veneer to stay in place for 10-15 years when properly bonded. However, diet and other factors can dissolve the bond more quickly for some people.

Other reasons veneers might come off include cavities under the veneer, inappropriate use, or teeth clenching and grinding (bruxism). In these cases, we may not be able to reattach the veneer. If you developed cavities under the dental laminates, we will examine the extent of damage and make recommendations — you may need a filling, and then the veneer can go back in place, or it’s best to get a dental crown to protect the tooth.

Teeth clenching and grinding can also badly damage these dental shells. If we knew about bruxism when we placed the dental laminates, we likely gave you a mouthguard to wear to protect the veneers. Before replacing the veneer, we’ll evaluate your bruxism and the mouthguard. In some cases, we might recommend TMJ treatment to help stabilize your bite and protect your veneers in the future.

Help for Lost Veneers in San Jose

If you’ve lost a veneer, our cosmetic dentists can help. Please call (408) 354-5600 today for a prompt appointment to assess your tooth and veneer at Top Down Dental, serving San Jose and nearby communities.