Braces or veneers? Moving teeth versus covering them

The millimetre that decides

Crowding of a millimetre or two can be disguised by veneers with very little preparation, because the teeth are nearly where a ceramic shell would want them to be. At four millimetres or more the same trick means preparing one tooth deeply and barely touching its neighbour, and the result looks thick and lifeless. Rotations, deep bites and crossbites are movement problems and no ceramic solves them.

What preparation actually costs you

A veneer usually needs between three and seven tenths of a millimetre of enamel removed, and enamel never regrows. From that day the tooth is committed to being restored for the rest of your life, with a replacement roughly every ten to twenty years and a small but real chance the nerve eventually needs treating. On a broken or deeply discoloured tooth that trade is sensible. On a healthy crowded tooth at twenty-five it is not.

The combination nobody quotes

Six to ten months of aligner treatment, then whitening, then two or four veneers only where the edge or shape genuinely needs building. That plan costs less enamel than a full arch of ceramics and usually looks better, because the teeth are in the right position before anything is bonded. It takes longer, which is precisely why it is the option most often left out of a quote.

Why we send some patients home to do the orthodontics

Aligner treatment needs review every six to ten weeks for a year or more, and that is not something you fly to Istanbul for. We are happy to plan the case, agree the finishing work and see you once your own orthodontist has done the moving. Recommending twenty crowns because orthodontics is inconvenient is the easiest upsell in dentistry, and it is the one we decline most often.

The Ones People Actually Ask.