Anterior Laminate Veneer Retreatment for Natural Tooth Shape and Shade

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

Laminate veneer treatment is a process of reshaping teeth to make them more attractive.

Reshaping means making them look attractive.

The concern when creating attractive, beautiful teeth is the possibility of side effects.

This is because so many people first think of side effects when they hear about laminate veneers.

The cause of laminate veneer side effects is tooth reduction.

Keeping tooth reduction below a certain level can minimize side effects.

The problem arises because excessive reduction is performed in many cases.

Many dental clinics provide laminate veneer treatment while promoting minimal-prep or no-prep techniques,

but reducing only a small amount in practice requires a precise diagnosis and preparation.

For this reason, when we retreat a case that has already received laminate veneers,

we sometimes find that a substantial amount of tooth structure has already been removed.

The two front teeth had already received laminate veneer treatment.

The color and translucency were good, but the shapes were too large.

Because only the two front teeth looked too large, we decided to improve both their proportions and shapes.

Redoing only 2 teeth could not improve the overall condition sufficiently, so we planned laminate veneer retreatment for 4 teeth.

Before treatment, we use wax to preview the outcome and then begin the procedure.

Because the two front teeth had already been reduced, we decided to remove their laminate veneers with a laser removal procedure.

The other two teeth were treated with a no-prep approach.

After the laminate veneers on the two front teeth were removed, we found that the teeth had already been reduced excessively.

As noted earlier, extensive tooth reduction makes side effects more likely.

The main problem is tooth sensitivity. If the pulp does not become inflamed, the symptoms resolve within 1-2 weeks or, at the longest, within 3 months,

but root canal treatment may be needed if too much tooth structure has been removed.

Another problem is laminate veneer debonding.

Because the likelihood of debonding increases as more tooth structure is removed, considerable effort is needed to reduce the amount of tooth reduction.

We decided to proceed with the other two teeth, apart from the two front teeth, in their existing condition.

We needed to prevent any further reduction.

Taking the proportions and balance among the teeth into account,

we incorporated natural tooth shape and shade, along with translucency, a hallmark of young teeth,

and completed the treatment with all the elements of beautiful teeth.

Removal is also very important in laminate veneer retreatment.

A laser must be used to minimize damage to the teeth

and reduce the risk of additional side effects.

For a clinic focused on laminate veneers, always striving to reduce side effects is the most basic standard of care.