More On Porcelain Veneers
Cosmetic Dentist serving Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Durham and Cary , NC.
One of the reasons that porcelain veneers are so popular in cosmetic dentistry, and so attractive as a way to enhance your smile, is --- that they are made of dental porcelain. Veneers can also be made of dental composite, but that material lacks the glossy shine of porcelain and is not as hard or as durable. Most cosmetic dentists do not offer composite veneers.
What is Dental Porcelain?
Dental porcelain is a type of ceramic and a ceramic is any material that is heat-resistant, corrosion-resistant, non-metallic, hard, and brittle.
The name “porcelain” is thought to have been devised in the thirteenth century by Marco Polo from the Italian word porcelino meaning “little pig”. Italians used porcelino to refer to cowrie shells, which are pink, shiny, and plump-looking. Marco Polo encountered porcelain for the first time when traveling in China and drew on porcelino to describe the translucence and strength of the Chinese ceramics.
Dental porcelain, being ceramic, is brittle on its own. But after it is bonded to a tooth, it is durable and strong and gives good service for many years, perhaps decades. The best dental porcelain is feldspathic porcelain. Feldspar is a naturally occurring glass, a crystalline rock making up about 60 percent of the top eight miles of Earth’s crust. It is melted in the process of making porcelain.
Porcelain for Dental Restorations
When you have porcelain veneers, a porcelain crown, or a porcelain filling, the porcelain used will be matched to your tooth enamel. Porcelain comes in many shades and Dr. Baker will choose one to blend in well with your other teeth so that nobody will know you had any dental restoration done.
Traditional general dentistry does not use porcelain – it is an offering of cosmetic dentistry, designed to look invisible in a person’s smile. To work well with dental porcelain, a dentist and a laboratory technician must have specialized training, and Dr. Baker has obtained his at the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies.
There is art as well as science in using dental porcelain successfully and LVI offers training for dental technicians as well as dentists. The technician who makes your veneers, for example, must know how to layer the materials, compressing each layer before adding the next. A good eye for color is important, as dental porcelain has subtle variations of shade much the way tooth enamel does. So matching porcelain well to tooth enamel calls for much training and experience.
That is why you are best served by a qualified cosmetic dentist like Dr. Baker when it comes to veneers, inlays, or onlays. Many excellent general dentists offer some cosmetic dentistry on the side, and some patients may be pleased with their porcelain veneers done that way, but many are not. Many end up coming to a fully-trained cosmetic dentist for corrective work.
If you would like to know more about how your porcelain restorations would be done, and which procedure would be your best next step in improving your smile, we will be pleased to schedule a consultation for you with Dr. Baker. He will examine your teeth, take digital X-rays and photographs, and discuss these images with you on the chairside monitor. There is no obligation for you. Please contact us today.
