Porcelain veneers

Porcelain veneers are also called dental veneers or porcelain laminates. The use of porcelain veneers has increased significantly in recent years. Porcelain veneers address problems such as diastemas, discolorations, tetracycline stains, fractured teeth and incisal wear.
Porcelain veneers offer numerous advantages over direct resin bondings, inluding chromatic stability and wear resistance. Acrylic veneers tend to discolor and develop surface stains over time. As opposed to porcelain veneers, composte veneers undergo surface abrasion and softening caused by solvents that are present in some mouth rinses, tooth pastes, and alcoholic beverages.
Porcelain veneers can also serve as valid alternatives to all-ceramic crowns and thus can avoid significant tooth reduction. The use of porcelain veneers is without a doubt strictly linked to the development of adhesive luting systems.

Porcelain Veneers

Porcelain veneers were first introduced in 1903 in an article of Dental Cosmos. In the late thirties, porcelain veneers were used as provisional aesthetic modifications of upper front teeth. It was used by Hollywood actors, who used dental adhesives to keep them in place. Porcelain veneers have received a boom in the last two decades due to the development of reliable adhesive materials and techniques as well as stronger and more aesthetic veneer porcelains.

When designed and delivered properly, porcelain veneers can create unparalleled aesthetics, which no other dental material can mimick. Porcelain veneers are used to correct minor tooth alignment, enamel defects, diastemas, and to mask discolored and stained teeth. Aesthetic-Dentistry.com gives detailed descriptions of every dental condition that can be encountered and how porcelain veneers can correct them. Feel free to browse through these pages.

Porcelain veneers only lead to predictable and optimum results if handled by an experienced cosmetic dentist. Finding a cosmetic dentist who is right for you is particularly challenging for anyone seeking cosmetic dentistry, since every dentist testifies now to be an experienced cosmetic dentist. How do you really know? One way to determine the experience level of a particular cosmetic dentist would be to find out how he or she is affiliated with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD). While there are about 7,000 general members who attend meetings and pay their annual dues, only about 270 have passed the rigorous examination process of the AACD. Only the cosmetic dentists who passed this process successfully can call themselves "accredited" by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. Hence, while no dentist can assume the status of "expert" in the field of Cosmetic Dentistry, the successful completion of the AACD accreditation indicates that the particular cosmetic dentist is striving to be more competent and to be at the cutting edge, clinically and technically.

Porcelain veneers may be contraindicated in patients with tooth wear as a result of bruxism or pre-existing large restorations.

Porcelain veneers are bonded to tooth structure. They are the most important tool for cosmetic dentists. Studies have shown that etched and silanated porcelain, in combination with resin cement, has excellent bond strength and resistance to fracture. Etched porcelains bonded with a composite resin adhesive have the strength necessary to hold veneers permanently in place.

The development of new adhesion techniques and porcelains have enabled the cosmetic dentist to successfully adhere dissimilar materials to each other. The bonding between a porcelain veneer and the tooth is often so strong that a trauma fractures the tooth and not the interface at the porcelain.
For more information please go to our clinical porcelain veneer page.