Four Ways to Fabricate Laminate Veneers!

Hello.

I am Park Jonguk, DDS, MS, director of Lamista Academy and Dream Dental Clinic.

There are aspects that even dentists may not know well.

I would like to discuss various topics related to laminate veneers.

Today’s topic is how laminate veneers are fabricated.

Most conventional restorations used in dentistry are crowns.

Today, most crowns are fabricated from zirconia.

Younger dentists will have learned to use zirconia as a standard material,

but older dentists may still regard zirconia as a relatively new material.

Although we are in an era when most dental treatment uses zirconia,

zirconia has limitations as a material for laminate veneers.

This is because of bonding.

Unlike crowns, laminate veneers have no physical retention,

so the bond between the tooth and laminate veneer is extremely important.

For that reason, ceramics used for laminate veneers fall into two broad categories.

One is a traditional ceramic known as feldspar or feldspathic ceramic,

and the other is e.max, which is better known by its brand name. Its composition is lithium disilicate.

Because these two ceramics bond very strongly to teeth, they are primarily used to fabricate laminate veneers.

Let us look at three processes for fabricating laminate veneers with these materials.

1. Feldspathic laminate veneers (platinum-foil laminate veneers)

A refractory model that can withstand the high temperature of the furnace is used,

and the laminate veneer is fabricated by layering feldspathic ceramic over platinum foil.

The fabrication process is extremely demanding, and this method costs the most.

It also takes a very long time.

It can produce the most natural-looking laminate veneers, but it is somewhat difficult to apply in every case.

To the point that it is difficult to tell which tooth has a laminate veneer,

this method can reproduce all the characteristics of natural teeth.

2. One-day method

This method uses ceramic with the same composition as the method introduced in 1,

but the fabrication process is completely different.

It is made by a computer rather than by hand.

Computer fabrication may sound more precise,

but the technology has not yet advanced that far.

It is made by milling a ceramic block composed primarily of feldspathic material.

Recent advances in milling machines allow more precise laminate veneers to be made than in the past.

Because fabricating one laminate veneer this way takes approximately 10-20 minutes,

treatment can be completed in a single day, which is why it is called the one-day method.

The problem is that the result has none of the appearance of a natural tooth.

Treatment is completed with laminate veneers that look artificial and unnatural.

Clinics that use this method often describe it as a treatment other than laminate veneers

and advertise it under a different name.

I am concerned that even dentists are being misled by such advertising.

The other two methods will be covered in the next post.

This is Lamista Academy’s lecture poster for month 4 (April).