Porcelain Veneers
Porcelain veneers are contact lens thin pieces of porcelain that cover the areas of teeth that need improvement. Porcelain veneers can change the color of teeth, shape of teeth, size of teeth, length of teeth close spaces and correct crowding. They can make smiles look wider and brighter.
Smile Stylist focuses on creating smiles using porcelain veneers that are customized for each patient. There are several characteristics of smiles he can enhance using porcelain veneers, such as making smiles look more youthful, sexy, feminine, flirty and fun, masculine, exotic, including both commercial and editorial looks. The next generation of looks with porcelain veneers have evolved beyond the traditional Hollywood look and now embrace the unique elements of style. Smile Stylist’s understand how facial beauty and personality play important roles in designing a smile and how to take elements of an individuals natural tooth shapes and enhance those characteristics so that improvements made with porcelain veneers look like a patients’ own natural teeth.
The trend for porcelain veneers is to thin the porcelain materials which can create thinner veneers. Using thinner veneers enables dentists to provide more conservative techniques for the patient. Traditional veneers require .7 mm of enamel reshaping to achieve proper shape and form, thinner veneers only require .3-.5 mm of space for the porcelain veneer, or less than the thickness of your fingernail. Understanding those unique properties of the ceramics and the capabilities of an artistic and experienced lab enable Smile Stylist dentists to provide the most conservative techniques for your teeth. Many cases these days can incorporate minimal preparation and no preparation techniques to achieve the smile of your dreams. Unfortunately, not all dentists understand these techniques and usually fall back to traditional preparation techniques or crowns to make smiles look better.
“Veneer’s don’t work”, “Veneers pop off” and suggestions for crowns instead of veneers are comments made by inexperienced dentists not completely comfortable with modern bonding techniques using porcelain veneers. Crowns require more aggressive tooth preparation in order to obtain mechanical retention and room for thicker layers of materials. When a crowned tooth is treated in a more typical manner, it is prepared by removing much more tooth structure. This is because the crown materials may need to be thicker, the dentist does not have a plan for the final look of the tooth, or does not understand the capabilities of ceramic materials.
Commonly, patients want to know if they are going to get a crown or a veneer. Traditionally, veneers only cover the fronts, sides and tops of teeth, not the back of the tooth. When the veneer extends around the whole tooth including the back, it is called a crown. Crowns and veneers can be made out of the same types of porcelain. When a crowned tooth is treated conservatively utilizing the same material as a porcelain veneer, it is prepared like a traditional veneer, that covers the whole tooth, we call this a full porcelain veneer. It is completely undetectable from a veneer in the mouth. It all looks the same, because it is utilizing the same materials and conservative techniques. The most common material used for porcelain veneers is Empress by Ivoclar. Empress is a pressed leucite reenforced ceramic material. The shade selection, predictability and strength make it the top choice for most leading cosmetic dentists and ceramists. Another product by Ivoclar called e.max is getting a lot of publicity. e.max is a lithium disilicate ceramic material. This product is beginning to replace Empress in situations when strength is more important. It is important to understand capabilities and limitations of both Empress and e.max when designing a smile with porcelain veneers. It is also used for back teeth crowns and onlays. e.max is a terrific material, but to date, can still not replace Empress as the most aesthetic material in every situation for porcelain veneers. It is important that the dentist understands the capabilities and limitations of both leucite reenforced and lithium disilicate porcelain when designing a smile with porcelain veneers. There are other manufactured materials by other companies for porcelain veneers, such as Authentic and Ceramco 3.
Other common options for tooth colored crowns are crowns with zirconium substructures. These are a typical replacement for the traditional porcelain fused to metal crowns that have a metal substructure. These types of crowns are not more conservative than the traditional metal based crowns and are a last resort for cosmetic dentistry in the front of the mouth.
CEREC crowns and veneers are in-office milled porcelain that can be made the same day. CEREC dentistry is gaining popularity. The idea of getting a crown or veneer the same day and not needing to wear a temporary crown or veneer sounds great, but CEREC crowns and veneer look about as good as a temporary, unless the dentist is also a lab ceramist and is taking the time to stain and design the restoration. The dentist still does not cut back and layer the veneer like a master ceramist. Bottom line, stay away from CEREC on your front teeth, unless you really don’t care that much about the look of the final result. Every dentist and laboratory ceramist team have materials that they prefer and works best in their hands.