Feldspathic veneers in London

Translucency is the reason, and it comes from what the material lacks rather than what it contains.

Stronger ceramics get their strength from a dense crystalline structure packed through the glass. Those crystals scatter light, which is what makes the material tough and also what makes it read as slightly more opaque. Feldspathic porcelain has far less of that reinforcement, so more light passes into the veneer and out again, picking up the colour of the tooth underneath on the way.

Depth is what that produces, and depth is what the eye reads as real. A feldspathic veneer shifts character slightly as the light around you changes, the way a real tooth does, instead of holding one flat shade under every condition.

That behaviour is most valuable across the upper front six teeth, sometimes called the social six, because those are the teeth visible in ordinary conversation. It also works particularly well over teeth that are only mildly discoloured or stained, where there is no need to block out the underlying colour. Heavy staining is the opposite case: translucency lets the darkness show through, and a more opaque material handles it better.

Because the shells can be shaped freely, feldspathic veneers are also useful for widening the appearance of narrow smiles, where the upper arch looks pinched and dark spaces appear at the corners of the mouth.

Treatment opens with an assessment and a discussion of what you want the result to look like, supported by a digital simulation of the proposed smile.

Any preparation needed is minimal and conservative with this material. We then take an impression or digital scan and photographs recording the character of your natural teeth, because the technician is matching translucency and surface texture rather than only a shade number.

Layering and firing at the laboratory takes longer than milling a veneer from a block, so allow a little more time between preparation and fitting than a machined restoration would need. Temporary veneers protect the teeth meanwhile.

Fitting is where feldspathic work is either won or lost. The shells are delicate before they’re bonded, and the bond itself carries much of the finished strength, so the isolation and bonding protocol matters more here than with a thicker, stronger ceramic.

We review the result after fitting and check the bite properly, since an interference that would be harmless on a crown can chip a thin veneer over months.

Dr Joe Oliver (GDC No. 62456) qualified from King’s College Hospital in 1987 with a BDS and LDS RCS England, and has worked in cosmetic dentistry since opening the practice in 1989. He has placed over 40,000 porcelain veneers and is a member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, as well as co-founder and Director of Education of Cosmetic Dental Seminars.

Material selection is the part of veneer work patients rarely get a proper conversation about, and it is the decision that determines whether the result looks like teeth or like veneers. Our assessment covers your bite, your enamel and what you actually want before any material is recommended.

Patients who already have veneers, and dislike how opaque they look, are one of the most common cases we see. Replacing old veneers with a more translucent material, such as feldspathic porcelain, is often the change that makes a smile stop looking like dentistry.