Natural Multilayer Veneers You'd Never Know Unless Told

Hello. I'm Park Jonguk, director of Dream Dental Clinic.

One thing I always talk about

is natural-looking veneers.

In many cases, when people think of veneers,

they picture something like a piece of xylitol gum stuck on the teeth.

In practice, quite a lot of cases really do end up looking that way,

with results that look awkward and painfully obvious.

The reason for this comes down to a difference in how the veneer is fabricated.

Because veneers are so thin,

many clinics fabricate them with a single layer, or a single material.

This means the entire veneer is made of just one material.

Most of these use ceramic that's opaque and extremely white.

As a result, the color inevitably ends up looking awkward and unnatural.

It would help if the shape at least kept a natural sense of dimension,

but even I'm not sure why, the shape often ends up unnatural too, in a lot of cases.

These single-layer veneers are mostly

made by computer using the one-day method,

which is why they're often called one-day veneers,

though a lot of handmade veneers also end up single-layer.

A multilayer structure can't be fabricated by computer,

it can only be made by hand.

For the difference in the fabrication process between the one-day method (single-layer, single-material) and the multilayer method,

please see the link below.

This is a typical example of a single-layer ceramic.

It's hard to even call it a veneer — it sits somewhere between a veneer and an all-ceramic crown.

The ceramic is quite thick,

so a multilayer structure would have been possible,

but it was made as a single layer instead.

Over time, the alignment had also worsened,

so retreatment was carried out for aesthetic purposes.

The patient wanted it bright, but treated in a more natural way.

This is the result after treatment.

You can see a range of expression built into every part of the tooth.

The difference starts right from the shape of the tooth.

A natural tooth needs to have a sense of dimension.

Dentists describe this as having well-defined line angles.

By giving the line angles clear definition,

the sense of dimension is brought out.

The tip of the tooth needs to keep a translucent feel.

Translucency is the single biggest feature of a youthful tooth.

Even so, many veneers are made opaque.

The reason is simply that it's easier to make them that way.

A translucent veneer isn't easy to fabricate.

It has to be built as a multilayer structure, which takes considerably more time and cost.

Blending well with the gums matters a great deal too.

Overall, natural yet bright, clear, and translucent —

the retreatment was completed.

Likewise,

this is a veneer made with a single-layer structure.

It has almost a white-chalk kind of look.

It's far too opaque,

with no sense of dimension,

and the proportion between teeth is quite off as well.

Through retreatment,

it needed to be reborn as a bright yet translucent tooth.

The translucency of the tooth was clearly brought out.

In every part of the tooth,

you can sense a slightly different shade of color.

With the dimension well brought out, the shape of the tooth looks much more defined.

The proportion between the teeth was adjusted to be closer to average.

You can see the harmony between the teeth and the gums.

Gums with a texture like orange peel are generally considered healthy gums.

That kind of stippling is clearly visible here.

You can see that even the surface texture of the tooth has been well preserved.

The result is teeth that go well with the patient's smile.

Natural beauty

Since 2006, Dream Dental Clinic