Composite veneers — Sterling, Virginia
A veneer that adds, instead of one that takes away
Most veneer conversations start with how much tooth has to come off. Composite veneers start somewhere else: the material goes on top of the tooth you already have, shaped by hand, in one visit. Almost nothing comes off the tooth, so the decision keeps its way back — which is not what people assume about veneers.
The part that catches people out
Additive and subtractive are two different decisions
A lab makes a porcelain veneer, so the dentist has to shape the tooth to make room for it. That shaping does not grow back. Once a tooth carries porcelain it stays a tooth that needs a veneer, and when the veneer eventually wears out it gets replaced rather than removed.
Dr. Tarek builds a composite veneer straight onto the tooth from a tooth-coloured resin, hardens each layer with a light, then polishes it. Because the resin adds material rather than making room for it, it leaves the tooth underneath largely untouched. If you change your mind years later, a composite veneer can be taken off and the tooth is still there.
So which one is better
Neither, in the abstract. Composite is reversible, done in one appointment, and costs less. Porcelain is harder, holds its colour longer, and is what a very worn or very dark tooth usually needs. They answer different mouths.
The gaps between teeth are where composite is not merely an alternative but the better tool. Resin flows into a black triangle between two teeth and closes it, which porcelain struggles to do without preparing both neighbours.
One visit, start to finish
How it runs
- 01
The look first
We photograph and scan, and you see the proposed shape before any material is opened. Nothing gets built to a description.
- 02
Colour matched in daylight
We choose the resin against your own teeth, wet, in real light. Match it dry or under the operatory lamp and it reads right in the chair and wrong outside.
- 03
Built and shaped
The resin goes on in layers, and a light hardens each one as it lands. Dr. Tarek shapes it against your bite and your lip line while he builds it, not afterwards.
- 04
Polished
Polishing is what makes composite stop looking like composite. It is the slow part of the appointment and the part that decides whether the result reads as a tooth.
What the exam is actually looking at
Whether your teeth can hold it
Composite grips enamel far better than the softer dentine underneath. So the first question is how much enamel your teeth still carry.
The second is your bite. A veneer on a tooth taking more force than its neighbours will chip, and it will keep chipping until the reason is dealt with. If you grind, that gets handled first or alongside — not ignored and rebuilt twice.
The third is why the tooth looks the way it does. A tooth darkened by an old root treatment behaves differently under thin resin than a merely worn one. The answer there might be whitening first, or porcelain instead.
The part nobody quotes you
What changes the price
Composite veneers cost less per tooth than porcelain, and the number of teeth matters more than most people expect. Doing two front teeth well is harder than doing six, because two have to disappear among the ones either side while six set their own standard.
What else moves it: whether the tooth needs anything underneath first, whether gaps are being closed, and how much of the shape is being changed. A subtle edge repair and a full front-six rebuild are not the same appointment.
You get the figure in writing before anything is scheduled. Nobody here quotes veneers over the phone, because the honest answer depends on teeth we have not seen.
How most guests pay
Financing partners are on financing options, and the Membership Club covers preventive care for guests without insurance.
Where our scope ends
When composite is the wrong answer
Composite stains and it wears. It holds its colour for years, not decades, and coffee, red wine and tobacco all shorten that. Expect to have them polished, and eventually to have them redone. Anyone who tells you a composite veneer lasts for ever is selling you something.
It is also not the answer for a tooth that is badly broken down, heavily filled, or very dark. Those need the strength of porcelain or a crown, and we will say so rather than build something that fails.
If your teeth need moving rather than reshaping, veneers are the wrong tool entirely. We do not offer braces here. We do offer clear aligners, and straightening first often means less material afterwards.
Questions guests ask
Next step
See the shape on your own teeth first
The Smile Reveal is two complimentary visits. You wear a mockup of the design over your own teeth and we photograph it. You see those photographs beside where you started, before anyone chooses a material.