How many veneers do I need?
Most full smile-line cases involve eight to ten. Narrower smiles take six. Some cases take two, and the patient gets talked out of the other eight.
The number is decided by where your smile line stops, which is how many teeth show when you smile and talk normally. It is not decided by a package.
8 to 10
Enough to reach past the corners of a wide smile.
6
When the back teeth genuinely do not show.
2
Undersized lateral incisors, for example. Nothing else touched.
Your smile line
Photographed while you talk, not while you pose.
Why the number is not a package
The problem to avoid is a visible seam. If the design stops on a tooth that still shows when you smile, there is a line where new porcelain meets natural tooth, and that line is exactly what makes work look obvious.
So the count comes from your own photographs. Wide smile, more teeth. It has nothing to do with what was quoted to anyone else.
Fewer than you were quoted is often correct
Being told you need two rather than ten is a good sign, and it happens often. Undersized lateral incisors after braces are the classic version: two teeth are the problem, the other eight are fine, and treating the other eight would be spending enamel for nothing.
If a plan grows once financing gets mentioned, ask why.
Upper only, or upper and lower
Most cases are upper only, because the lower teeth show far less than people assume. Lowers get added when they are visibly worn or dark enough that they drag the upper result down.
You will see this yourself at the preview stage before anything is permanent.
Written by Dr. Peter Bonifatto, DMD, a general dentist in Las Vegas whose practice focuses on cosmetic and restorative work. General information, not a diagnosis. What your own teeth need is decided at an exam, with x-rays.
Ask about your own teeth.
A comprehensive exam with photographs and x-rays, then a written plan with real figures you keep. Starts at $99, with no deposit on top of it.