Porcelain Laminate
What is Porcelain Laminate?
Laminate is a special porcelain veneer that is bonded to the front surface of the tooth. With its thin and translucent structure, porcelain laminate integrates perfectly with the tooth tissue and provides a very natural aesthetic appearance.
Do I Have to Have My Teeth Shaved to Get Porcelain Laminate?
Porcelain laminate is one of the treatment options within aesthetic and prosthetic dentistry that requires the least amount of tooth reduction. Depending on the position of the tooth on which the laminate will be placed, a small amount of cutting may sometimes be necessary, while in some cases, simply a light abrasion similar to sanding the tooth surface may be sufficient. The amount of reduction to be done on the teeth will be determined based on their positions, your expectations, and the aesthetic requirements according to the treatment plan.
Who Can Have Porcelain Laminate?
- If you don’t like the shape of your teeth
- If you don’t like the color of your teeth
- If you don’t like the size of your teeth
- If you don’t like the gaps between your teeth
- If you don’t like minor crowding in your teeth
- If chipped, cracked, or discolored teeth bother you
How Is Porcelain Laminate Applied?
For Porcelain Laminate, the first session: We consider our first appointment as a meeting session with you.
After learning in detail about the issues bothering you and your expectations, we perform both a dental and aesthetic examination of your entire face and teeth. We professionally explain whether porcelain laminate is suitable for you, what you really need, and what can actually be done. After informing you about every stage of the procedure, we take an initial impression and clinical photographs, then schedule your next appointment and send you off from our clinic.
For the second session of porcelain laminate: Under local anesthesia, the teeth are prepared by abrasion. Based on the impression taken during the first session, a preliminary model is created in the lab using white wax. This work serves as an important guide for how the teeth will look when finished and helps us determine how much to abrade each tooth to achieve the correct aesthetics. The wax model made for the porcelain laminate preparation is called a "wax-up," and the application of the prepared tooth model to your teeth after abrasion is called a "mock-up." Temporary restorations prepared according to this preliminary work are placed on your teeth. After applying the temporaries, we discuss and take notes together on how the final restorations should look.
Sometimes, the tooth shape you imagine may not look the way you want on your face. With the mock-up procedure, where we apply the design we prepared to your teeth using temporary restorations, we have the chance to evaluate this. For example, you may want your front two teeth to be longer, but perhaps this design won’t look as you imagined on your face. These temporary teeth help us prevent such unpleasant surprises. By seeing together what and how things will be, and applying it in your mouth, we proceed with confidence.
(Wax-up model made of white wax)
For the third session of porcelain laminate: Under local anesthesia, your temporary restorations are removed, and the finished porcelain laminates are tried in. If everything is as desired, they are permanently bonded, followed by minor functional adjustments and polishing. You leave our clinic with the smile you have always dreamed of.
What Kind of Problems Might I Experience If I Get Porcelain Laminate?
- Since some abrasion is done during the sessions, even if minimal, you may experience sensitivity. Temporary restorations are made not only to prevent disruption to your social life and maintain aesthetics throughout the treatment but also to cover the tooth surfaces and minimize the risk of sensitivity. However, during this period, very cold or very hot foods may still cause discomfort.
- Following the bonding of the laminates, you may experience mild temporary sensitivity for 1 to 4 weeks due to the procedure and the adhesive. This issue will gradually decrease and disappear over time.
- Although porcelain laminates are quite durable, since they are bonded to the front surface of the tooth, we do not recommend biting or tearing very hard foods.
- We advise you to be careful about impacts to teeth with porcelain laminates.
- Just like your natural teeth, please do not neglect brushing and flossing teeth with porcelain laminates.
If you have any of the problems listed below with your teeth, unfortunately, porcelain laminate is not suitable for you. There are many great alternative aesthetic treatments available. We recommend you consider full ceramic crowns.
- Extensive tooth damage
- Discoloration too severe to be covered by laminate
- Crowding too severe to be corrected with minor abrasion
- Teeth with bite (occlusion) problems
- Heavy teeth grinding and clenching habit
