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To enable a porcelain veneer to stay on through the bites, chews, and gnawings of daily life, the healthy enamel of the tooth needs to be sanded down to create a rough surface for the veneer to be stuck onto for the next 10 to 15 years. Usually, a patient will also have their teeth drilled to a degree, since it\u2019s necessary to smooth sharp edges or make more room for a veneer to fit perfectly. (If the original teeth are perfectly straight with no sharp edges, veneers that require no prep are possible, but those circumstances are exceedingly rare.) Even with minimal drilling, though, your teeth will never be the same. \u201cNo dentistry is reversible,\u201d says Dr. Sam Jethwa, a London-based cosmetic dentist. \u201cOnce you stick something [to a tooth], you’re sticking it to last.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plenty of celebrities have been public about regretting their veneers, including Bad Bunny, who\u2019s opened up about the physical pain they caused him, and Kehlani, who\u2019s spoken about her \u201ccheap\u201d resin veneers. Influencer Alix Earle also wishes she had kept her natural teeth intact. A GRWM TikTok Earle posted last summer began with her taking out what appears to be an emery board and filing down her front teeth, explaining that one of her veneers had chipped the previous night while she was talking to Kate Hudson aboard the Ritz-Carlton\u2019s super-yacht. (A lot to unpack there, but let\u2019s focus on the teeth.) As Earle moves on to blending her foundation, she proceeds to tell her audience that she had gotten the veneers the previous summer, but \u201cI didn\u2019t talk about it because I didn\u2019t want to influence anyone to do it because I don\u2019t think you should.\u201d Her own regret was immediate, she says with tears in her eyes: \u201cI was like, \u2018What did I just do? I had such good teeth, and now\u2026 I\u2019m going to have to keep up with this for the rest of my life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Earle\u2019s dilemma seems to be the issue for many frequenters of the \/porcelainveneerstruth subreddit. \u201cI had healthy natural teeth and did this purely as a cosmetic procedure due to my gapped teeth and thinking they were too small,\u201d one Redditor wrote. \u201cThey weren’t perfect, but they were my real teeth\u2026. I feel so upset and so much regret for choosing veneers. I find myself constantly wishing I could go back and undo the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scroll through the subreddit\u2019s page for a few minutes and you\u2019ll find much of the same story: Someone with healthy teeth got veneers to fix something minor, like a chip or a gap, and is now dealing with anxiety about the long-term maintenance and costs of their permanent dental decision. (Though procedures vary widely, a full set of veneers can run anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars\u2014and remember, they don\u2019t last forever.) \u201cMany were never fully informed about conservative alternatives, such as Invisalign, whitening, or enhanced additive composite bonding,\u201d Mike, the founder of Beauty Beyond Veneers and lead moderator of the subreddit, tells Allure<\/em> in an email. \u201cPatients also did not realize that permanent enamel removal could lock them into an irreversible cycle of ongoing maintenance, future replacements, financial strain, and lifelong commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n Mike\u2019s own veneer experience started in 2003, when he was 18 and wanted to treat a small chip. \u201cI was told that the chip could not be repaired and that I needed six porcelain veneers. I now know that was not true, yet many patients are still being told the same thing today,\u201d he says. A family member paid $6,000 for Mike’s dental work. \u201cAt that age, I did not fully understand the lifelong consequences of permanently removing healthy enamel,” he adds. “I later had the veneers replaced, and over the years I experienced ongoing concerns with their appearance, my bite, discomfort, and the feeling that my natural smile had been permanently altered.\u201d All in all, Mike has spent around $52,000 on veneers and other related dental work over the last 23 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n