What is the integral ceramic?
The integral ceramics is also called pressed ceramics, because of its technological execution procedure.
It is the option of restoring a part of the dental crown (vestibular face of the front teeth for the dental facings, respectively the occlusal surface for the dental veneers), made only of porcelain, without metallic or zirconium sub-layer.
The ceramic is stable from the point of view of the colour, it presents an excellent translucency and, because the absence of another (metal or zirconium) sub-layer, the passage between the crown and the soft tissue (gum) is extremely aesthetic. It is inert from the chemical point of view, biocompatible with other materials of dental restoration and resistant to dental abrasion.
Why choosing the ceramic veneer as a treatment option?
When there are extended caries problems or sealants (seals) of old composite or amalgam, but the teeth nerve is not affected, it is recommended to make a ceramic veneer. What’s the reason for that? In order to keep as long as possible the vital teeth, the operator protocol is to clean the affected structure of the teeth, respectively to remove the old sealants and to restore the fissure from the dental crown. This restoration can be made either by a composite sealant or by making a veneer.
Composite sealant/veneer – advantages and disadvantages!
The composite sealants is more advantageous from the point of view of the price and execution time (it is made in the dental clinics) but, being a material unstable from the point of view of the color and with worse mechanic properties than the ceramic, it is recommended in restorations with low sizes of the dental crown. The ceramic veneers support much better the masticatory forces in comparison with the composite sealants and they are stable from the point of view of the colors (they are not impregnated with food pigments from the saliva). They are prosthetic parts made in the dental technique laboratory, although they require longer execution time and higher costs.
The composite is a photopolymerisable material – it is like a paste that becomes hard by the action of a light. This fact creates a micro-space between the wall of the dental cavity and the sealant itself. In time, by this micro-space, microorganisms are inserted by the saliva, determining secondary caries. As the veneer is fixed by cementation in the created cavity, the space between the restoration and the dental wall is sealed and, in time, the risk of the appearance of a secondary caries is significantly reduced. Therefore, the investment of an initial high cost is justified by a longer functional stability of the teeth on the arch.
Dental facings – When do we choose dental facings?
In case the teeth can present unaesthetic colors, incipient carious processes, spaces between the teeth that cannot be corrected by orthodontic treatment (small teeth), the best treatment option consists of dental facings.
The significant advantage of the dental facings is that they can solve very well the aesthetic problems from the front teeth area, allowing keeping up the vital teeth (without being required to remove the nerve).
More modern methods of aesthetic analysis by digital photo (DSD-Digital Smile Design) provide the possibility of viewing the teeth appearance and their inclusion as a shape in correlation with the other facial elements, before starting the effective treatment.
The dental facings are prosthetic parts particularly pretentious, requiring a well justified plan of treatment, the careful collection of diagnosis data with respect to the functionality of the entire dental and maxillary system and a good collaboration and communication between the practitioners (physicians, dental technicians) and the patient.
With the help of the dental facings, anomalies of colour and teeth position can be corrected. The interdental spaces (diastemas and tremas) can be sealed, and the teeth with unaesthetic coloration of the dental lacquers can acquire a natural appearance in harmony with the other facial components.