Veneer and All-Ceramic Crown Redo That Maximizes Naturalness

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

After veneer or all-ceramic crown treatment,

patients end up needing a redo for a variety of reasons.

The most common one that comes to mind

is probably veneer fracture.

It can happen as the ceramic's own strength declines over time,

from repeated strong forces being applied,

or from a sudden, quite strong impact —

any of these can cause a fracture.

Ceramic fracture, in most cases,

happens as the bond to the tooth weakens,

and the bond strength between ceramic and tooth

inevitably weakens over time.

According to various recent studies,

when the bite is normal and there are no habits that place excessive force on the teeth,

the lifespan of a veneer is estimated at 10 years or more.

Some studies even put it at 15 to 20 years.

What matters is that if a patient grinds their teeth or has an abnormal bite,

the lifespan drops sharply.

There are quite a few things to be careful about,

but in typical cases, it isn't a major concern.

Due to tooth fracture

and discoloration of an all-ceramic crown,

the patient came in for a redo.

In cases like this, most of the time

patients don't really know whether they were treated with an all-ceramic crown

or with a veneer.

About a decade ago, some clinics

explained veneers and all-ceramic crowns in a confusing way,

and since veneers involve less tooth reduction,

even when performing an all-ceramic crown,

they sometimes described it to patients as if it were veneer treatment.

Even recently, there are cases where the treatment is actually a veneer,

but is given a different name and explained as if it were a different treatment.

Changing the name doesn't make it anything other than a veneer.

We proceed with a redo to resolve these various issues.

For the redo,

we analyze the teeth,

analyze the face,

and also analyze pronunciation and the smile.

Based on this analysis,

we work out how to treat the all-ceramic crown

and predict what the treatment result will look like.

This whole series of steps is called a precision wax-up diagnosis.

This process is extremely important for veneers, all-ceramic crowns, and redo procedures alike.

The existing ceramic is removed.

For both veneers and all-ceramic crowns, removing the ceramic during a redo is a quite delicate process,

so it requires a great deal of care.

After removal, we found the condition of the tooth to be quite serious.

A tooth that has had root canal treatment is more likely to discolor,

and in this case there was not only discoloration but also decay.

All of these various problems need to be resolved together through the redo.

We proceeded with whitening and cavity treatment together,

to brighten the tooth color as much as possible.

That said, there is a limit to how much discoloration from root canal treatment can be reversed.

This is the appearance one week after treatment was completed.

The teeth were restored bright and beautiful.

The tooth color is bright,

but a clear sense of translucency was also given to it.

The gum inflammation was confirmed to have resolved,

and because the all-ceramic crown retains its three-dimensionality,

a natural look has been achieved.

It suits the face well

and makes the smile even brighter.

This is the appearance two years after treatment.

You can see that the gums remain healthy.

The natural color and shape are well preserved.

Redoing veneers and all-ceramic crowns

gives better results only when it's done

at a clinic with extensive experience.

Natural Beauty

Since 2006, Dream Dental Clinic