Veneers or Crowns? Shaving, Materials and Colour Chart

• Veneer or crown decided tooth by tooth
• Design approved before any preparation
• Shade chosen with you
• E.max veneers £185
• Zirconia crowns £145

New to the term? Read what Turkey teeth are — and how to do them right.

Veneers vs crowns: the difference in one minute

A veneer is a thin ceramic shell bonded to the front of a tooth, and preparing for it removes 0.3–0.7 mm from the front only. A crown is a cap that covers the whole tooth, and preparing for it removes 1–2 mm all the way round — so a veneer keeps most of your own tooth and a crown replaces its outer layer completely.

Which one a tooth needs depends on the tooth, not on the look you want: a sound tooth that is the wrong colour or shape is a case for a veneer; a tooth that is broken, heavily filled or root-treated needs the strength of a crown. Both can look exactly as natural — or exactly as bright — as you choose.

Neither treatment can be undone, which is why the choice matters so much. How long each one lasts, with good care, is a question of its own — see how long Turkey teeth last.

Are Turkey teeth veneers or crowns?

Most of the "Turkey teeth" you see in the press are crowns, not veneers: a full set of 20 or more crowns, often on healthy teeth that only needed veneers or nothing at all. That is where the shaved-down "pegs" in the photographs come from — crown preparation, not veneer preparation.

The phrase is used for both, and some clinics sell "veneers" that are, in fact, full crowns. The difference matters for your teeth, so ask any clinic two questions in writing: which teeth get veneers and which get crowns, and why. At TUA Dental your free treatment plan answers both, tooth by tooth, before you travel — and a smile makeover often mixes the two: veneers where the tooth is sound, crowns where it isn't. Our guide explains what Turkey teeth are and how to have them done right.

How much are teeth shaved for veneers?

For an E.max veneer the dentist removes 0.3–0.7 mm from the front of the tooth — roughly the thickness of a fingernail — and nothing from the back or the biting edge unless the design calls for it. The tooth under a well-prepared veneer keeps its shape; it simply looks slightly matt and a fraction slimmer at the front.

The preparation has one job: to make room for the veneer so it sits flush with its neighbours instead of standing proud of them. How much room is needed depends on the design. A tooth that is set slightly back, or one that is small, may need almost nothing; a tooth that is rotated or sits forward may need more on one side. That is why, at TUA Dental, the design comes before the drill: your new teeth are designed digitally and you approve the design first, and the dentist then prepares only where the veneer needs room.

If a tooth will need more than minimal preparation — because it is badly out of line, for example — your treatment plan says so before you travel, and says why.

Why Turkey teeth get shaved down to pegs

Teeth end up as small pegs when they are prepared for crowns: a crown needs 1–2 mm all the way round, so a front tooth loses most of its enamel and can be left as a narrow stump. On a damaged tooth that is the price of a strong restoration; on a healthy tooth it is a choice — and it is the choice behind most of the photographs you may have seen.

Why would a clinic crown healthy teeth? Crowns hide everything underneath them — colour, position, old fillings — and they are quicker to make look uniform, so a full set of crowns is the easiest way to deliver a bright, even smile in a few days. The cost is paid later: heavily prepared teeth can become sensitive, some need root canal treatment, and a tooth that has been crowned will always need a crown.

A well-planned smile avoids it in three ways: veneers wherever the tooth is sound, a design you approve before any tooth is touched, and a written plan that says which tooth gets what and why. Why Turkey teeth go wrong and how to avoid it sets out the other mistakes behind bad results, and how to check a clinic before you book.

Can veneers be done without shaving?

Sometimes. "No-prep" or minimal-prep veneers are bonded with little or no preparation, and they work when there is room for them: small or slightly short teeth, gaps between teeth, or teeth that sit a little behind the line of the smile. Whether a tooth can have one, your dentist decides from its condition.

Where there isn't room, a veneer placed without any preparation adds thickness, and the teeth can look bulky or feel too far forward. The honest answer is that it depends on the tooth: your digital design shows exactly how much room each tooth has, and your dentist decides from the condition of each tooth and prepares only as much as the design needs — sometimes nothing at all.

Materials: E.max, zirconia and composite

Ceramic veneers and crowns are made of glass-ceramics such as E.max or of zirconia; composite resin is the cheaper, shorter-lived alternative built up directly on the tooth. At TUA Dental veneers are E.max at £185 per tooth, and crowns are monolithic zirconia at £145 or E.max at £185, all made in our own CAD/CAM lab.

Our dentists recommend ceramic for a smile you want to keep looking the same for many years. If you have been quoted composite veneers elsewhere, send us the same photographs and we will tell you, tooth by tooth, which option we would choose and why.

The Turkey teeth colour chart: choosing your shade

Tooth shades are measured against a shade guide. At TUA Dental we use the VITA 3D-MASTER guide: 26 natural shades in five lightness groups, from 1, the lightest, to 5, the darkest, plus three bleached shades in group 0 that are whiter than any natural tooth. Most natural teeth sit in the middle groups, 2 and 3. The very white "Turkey teeth" look is a bleach shade — and you can choose it, or something far more natural, with the mock-up in your mouth.

A shade that suits you depends on your face, not on a number. Three things guide the choice: the whites of your eyes (teeth that are clearly whiter than them look artificial), your skin tone, and the teeth that are not being treated, which a new set should blend with. Many patients choose one or two shades lighter than their natural teeth, which looks bright but believable; some want the brightest shade available, and that is their choice to make.

Three practical points. Ceramic doesn't change colour, and it can't be whitened later — so if your own teeth will stay visible next to the new ones, whitening them first lets us match the new teeth to the brighter shade. Shades are chosen in daylight with the physical VITA 3D-MASTER shade guide, not on a screen. And at TUA Dental the shade is tried in your mouth as part of the mock-up before your final teeth are made, so you see it in a mirror and in photographs, next to your own skin, before you approve it.

Veneers vs crowns: price

At TUA Dental an E.max veneer costs £185 per tooth, a zirconia crown £145 and an E.max crown £185; a full set of 20 zirconia crowns — our Hollywood Smile package — is £2,900. Hotel and VIP transfer included. No hidden costs: the price in your treatment plan is the price you pay.

A cheaper price per tooth is not a reason to choose a crown over a veneer: the decision follows the tooth. What veneers and crowns cost in the UK, and the like-for-like comparison, is on veneers and crowns: UK vs Turkey; every price we charge is on our full price list.

Get your free treatment plan — veneer or crown, tooth by tooth+90 551 850 04 90

How we decide: tooth by tooth

At TUA Dental the decision between a veneer and a crown is made for each tooth separately, from your photographs, X-rays and 3D scan, and written into your free treatment plan before you travel. Our dentists, led by Principal Dentist Tuğçe Arslan, plan more than 220 smile designs a year this way.

1. Your photos and X-rays. The dentist checks each tooth: its colour, its position, old fillings, cracks and root treatments.
2. Your treatment plan. Each tooth is listed with its treatment — veneer, crown or nothing — the reason, and its price.
3. The design and the mock-up. In the clinic your smile is designed digitally and approved by you before any tooth is prepared; on day two it is tried in your mouth as a mock-up, and shape, length and shade are changed until you approve them.
4. Minimal preparation. Only then are the teeth prepared, and only as much as the design needs; the veneers and crowns are made in our own CAD/CAM lab and tried in before they are fitted.

Veneers, crowns and a full smile makeover take one visit of six days, planned over up to eight for larger sets. How each treatment works is on our pages for veneers, dental crowns and the Hollywood Smile.

Veneers or a Hollywood Smile?

A Hollywood Smile is not a third material: it is a full smile makeover — usually 20 or 24 teeth designed as one set — made with veneers, crowns or both. At TUA Dental the package of 20 zirconia crowns costs £2,900 and 24 crowns £3,480, while 20 E.max veneers cost £3,700.

The question is the same as for a single tooth: veneers where the teeth are sound, crowns where they need one. Our Hollywood Smile page explains how a full set is designed to your face, and how to choose between a natural and a very white result.

Real results

Every case is photographed in the clinic before and after — veneers, crowns, or a mix of the two, in shades chosen with the patient. Three of them are below.

BeforeAfterBeforeAfterBeforeAfter

See all before-and-after photos →

Last updated: November 7, 2026