Veneers

Veneer Regret: Why It Happens and How to Fix It

As featured in Marie Claire. Dr. Jon Marashi on why so many people regret their veneers, what failure actually looks like, and the redo process that brings patients back to looking like themselves.

Key Takeaways

·Veneer regret usually stems from shade, bulk, shape, or over-preparation, often more than one.
·"Bad veneers" have specific, identifiable tells a skilled cosmetic dentist can spot immediately.
·A proper redo starts with diagnosing the original failure, not just replacing the porcelain.
·Temporary veneers, and a next-day check, are how a patient avoids regretting the redo too.

Veneer regret is no longer a whisper. It is a search term, a TikTok genre, and now a Marie Claire feature. In June 2026, Marie Claire published "Why Do So Many People Regret Their Veneers?", a deep look at the patients living with bulky, opaque, or mismatched smiles, and the dentists they turn to when they want it undone.

I was honored to be the first dentist quoted in the piece, the only one featured in a pull quote, and the only one whose actual patient work appears as a before-and-after.

"All these years later, people want to look like themselves again."

, Dr. Jon Marashi, Marie Claire, June 19, 2026

That single line captures something I see in my Brentwood practice almost every week. The patient sitting across from me does not want a different smile. They want their smile back.

Why So Many People Regret Their Veneers

Veneer regret usually traces back to one of four things.

1. The teeth are too white. A shade that photographs well under stage lights reads as fake in daylight. Hollywood-white is a giveaway, not a compliment.

2. The teeth are too bulky. Veneers should follow the natural contour of the tooth. When too much porcelain is layered on, the smile looks puffy, the lip sits oddly, and speech can change.

3. The shape is wrong for the face. A square, uniform smile on a soft, feminine face looks borrowed. A delicate smile on a strong, masculine jaw looks borrowed in the other direction. Proportion is everything.

4. The underlying tooth was over-prepared. Aggressive prep removes healthy enamel that cannot be put back. Once the tooth is reduced too far, the patient is committed to wearing some form of restoration for life.

Most regret is the compounding result of two or three of these at once.

What "Bad Veneers" Actually Look Like

There are tells a trained eye sees instantly:

A flat, opaque white that does not catch light the way enamel does.
Black triangles at the gumline where the porcelain meets the tissue.
Teeth that all read the same length, with no subtle variation between the central incisors and the laterals.
A reverse smile line, where the front teeth sit lower than the canines, flattening the smile.
Lips that no longer close comfortably at rest.

If a patient has to actively think about how their smile looks while talking, the work is not right.

The Redo Process

A redo is not simply "swap the old veneers for new ones." It is a diagnostic process first, a restoration process second.

Step one: assess what is underneath. I carefully remove the existing restorations layer by layer to see exactly how much healthy tooth remains. Sometimes patients are surprised: their original teeth are in better shape than the work covering them.

Step two: design the new smile in temporaries. Before any final porcelain is made, I place hand-sculpted temporary veneers. The patient lives with them. They eat, talk, smile, send me selfies. Adjustments happen here, not on the final product.

Step three: come back the next day. I have every patient return after the anesthetic wears off so I can see the smile relaxed and they can give honest feedback. Every artist needs a fresh set of eyes.

Step four: scan the approved temporaries and send them to the lab. The final porcelain is built to match the design the patient already loves, not a digital guess.

This is slower than the assembly-line veneer experience that has produced so much of today regret. It is also why the work lasts and looks like the patient.

Why the Marie Claire Coverage Matters

National coverage of veneer regret tells me the conversation has finally caught up to what dentists like me have been seeing in our chairs for years. Patients are no longer chasing the brightest, biggest smile they can buy. They are chasing themselves: the version of their smile that looks like it was always theirs.

If you are living with veneers you do not love, you are not stuck. The work can be undone, and it can be redone in a way that disappears into your face the way a smile should.

Frequently Asked

Why are my veneers too white?+

The shade was likely chosen for visual impact rather than to harmonize with your skin tone, eye color, and the natural translucency of enamel. A natural-looking redo addresses this directly.

How long does a veneer redo take?+

Typically two to three visits over a few weeks, with temporaries worn in between so the design can be refined before the final porcelain is made.

Is it worth fixing bad veneers?+

For most patients, yes. The original decision is already made: the question now is whether to keep living with work you do not love or to have it done correctly. A consultation is the right place to weigh that honestly.

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