Using opalescent porcelain to create desired look with dental veneers

Opalescence in porcelain veneers
After:

Creating a natural cosmetic result with new porcelains with natural optical characteristics

The front four teeth have been veneered with Ivoclar's newest porcelain with opalescent qualities. This porcelain has the capacity to make teeth appear brighter. It also allows the lab technician to add intrinsic stains commonly found in natural teeth. The subtle stains and incisal translucency added is what makes these veneers look believably natural.

Replacing old veneers
Before:

A patient wanting a cleaner fresher brighter smile

There are many reasons to have porcelain veneers done.  this Gurnee, IL patient wanted to have brighter more attractive front teeth.  She was concerned that so many of her friends had veneers done that looked artificial. She decided to have her front four teeth done with a special opalescent porcelain that offers realistic optical characteristics.

 

Opalescence in natural teeth

Natural enamel has the optical property called opalescence.  Natural opals are aqueous disilicates that act like alot of tiny prisms.  Prisms bend different wavelengths at different angles.  The blue violets bend more than the longer red-yellow wavelengths.  When light enters a natural tooth, the red-yellows trans-illuminate through the tooth.  The blues tend to bend more and scatter within the body of translucent enamel that coats the outside of a tooth crown.  The more translucent a natural tooth is, the more blue appearance there is.  Most porcelains do not have the opalescent qualities that cause the surface to have a blue appearance.  There are many techniques to create a blue translucent appearance within artificial porcelain restorations but they are difficult to create.  Usually only the higher end technicians using the better porcelain sysytems, with the best training do a good job with these techniques.