Porcelain veneers are one of the most effective and esthetic methods to resurface a tooth and  improve the brightness and shape of your smile. Unfortunately many dental marketers (extreme makeover etc.) have been misusing veneers. When properly used, veneers are an excellent approach to restore proper function and shape to your teeth. Porcelain veneers are a very thin, eggshell thickness of porcelain that is laminated to the existing tooth. The advantage of porcelain veneers is the ability to do very conservative and minimal tooth reduction and yet be able to re-enamel the entire facial or smiling surface of the tooth. This improves esthetics but more importantly improves the overall strength of the tooth. Limitations for use of veneers include the need for a more ideal occlusion or bite relationship and also insufficient remaining enamel to provide adequate bond strength. As long as the enamel is available, the long-term predictability of the veneer is equivalent to a conventional crown. When adequate tooth form remains simpler procedures such as bleaching and/or orthodontics may be more appropriate. Some current marketing techniques advocate "prepless veneers". Although this sounds attractive, every individual's situation is different and requires a design to fit the structural and esthetic needs of the smile and dentition. Some situations require minimal preparation, but other areas need more vigorous preparation to cover old restorations or change the bite. If too much preparation is required a crown is more appropriate.