Feldspathic Laminate Veneers Reproducing Natural Tooth Color, Shape, and Surface Texture

Hello. I am Park Jonguk, DDS, MS, director of Dream Dental Clinic.

What are the most difficult laminate veneer cases?

No-prep laminate veneers?

Severely misaligned teeth?

Protrusive teeth?

Among the many different cases,

the most technically difficult

are those involving only 1,2 laminate veneers.

In other words,

matching their shade and form to the other natural teeth

can be considered the most difficult type of case.

With crowns,

the ceramic is thicker,

so it is easier to reproduce the appearance of natural teeth.

Multiple layers of ceramic can be

built up one by one

to mimic natural teeth as closely as possible.

Laminate veneers,

by contrast, require only minimal tooth reduction,

so every characteristic must be reproduced

within about half the thickness of a crown,

which is not easy.

If all 6 anterior teeth are treated together instead,

matching the shade and form is easier.

But when only one or two anterior teeth in the middle are treated,

matching them to the other natural teeth

is considerably difficult.

With extremely thin ceramic,

the shade and form of natural teeth,

and even their surface texture,

can be reproduced by one material:

feldspathic ceramic.

It is a ceramic

that has been used for a long time.

Because it is difficult to use,

it is being used less and less these days.

Zirconia is commonly used for posterior teeth,

while feldspathic ceramic is used only for anterior teeth.

Using feldspathic ceramic

without combining it with another material,

on its own,

to fabricate laminate veneers

is truly the most demanding

laboratory process.

The patient had mottling on the anterior teeth

and wanted laminate veneers.

The white spots

on one canine and one incisor

were a significant source of self-consciousness, the patient said.

Most dental clinics had recommended laminate veneers on all 6 anterior teeth,

the patient said.

Alternatively, the patient had been told

that matching laminate veneers

to the remaining natural teeth was impossible.

First, because both central incisors were either chipped or mottled,

we decided to place laminate veneers on the two incisors and one canine.

For the diagnostic process for laminate veneer treatment,

please see the link below.

This photo shows the two anterior teeth and the canine after preparation.

You can see how little tooth reduction laminate veneers require.

These are the completed laminate veneers.

Using feldspathic laminate veneers,

we kept them extremely thin while

reproducing a range of shades and translucency,

as well as the form and surface texture of the remaining natural teeth,

with careful detail.

When people think of laminate veneers,

they often imagine teeth that are merely white and opaque,

like xylitol chewing gum,

with an entirely artificial appearance.

At Dream Dental Clinic, however,

our feldspathic laminate veneers

closely replicate natural teeth

while creating attractive teeth.

Once completed, these feldspathic laminate veneers

make it impossible to tell

which teeth are natural

and which are laminate veneers.

Artificial-looking laminate veneers

are simple to fabricate

and require little manual work.

Creating them to look like natural teeth in this way

is true artistry and master craftsmanship.

Since 2006, Dream Dental Clinic