The Use Of Porcelain In Dental Practices

Porcelain is considered as one of the most popular materials ever used for prosthodontic practices today. This is due to the material's strength, which can be compared to that of gold and amalgam, and more aesthetically pleasing feature. Porcelain is commonly used in dental bridges (in which the material is fused into metal or used alone), dental crowns (in which the material is also fused to metal), and dental veneers. Although porcelain is useful for dental bridges and crowns in terms of aesthetics, it has its own set of disadvantages compared to other materials.

Porcelain in Dental Bridges and Crowns

In dental crowns, full gold crowns last the longest, as they are fabricated as single pieces of gold. PFMs, or porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns, possess an additional dimension in which they are prone to failure, as they incorporate brittle porcelain into their structure. Although incredibly strong in compression, porcelain is terribly fragile in tension, and fracture of the porcelain increases the risk of failure, which rises as the amount of surfaces covered with porcelain is increased. A traditional PFM with occlusal porcelain (i.e. porcelain applied to the biting surface of a posterior tooth) has a 7% higher chance of failure per year than a corresponding full gold crown. This also works with dental bridges.

Although there are several disadvantages to using porcelain in dental bridges and crowns, porcelain is still preferred by patients who want a more aesthetically pleasing smile over gold or amalgam. Porcelain, however, proved to be more useful in terms of dental veneers.

Porcelain in Dental Veneers

According to porcelain veneers los angeles specialists, porcelain is considered as the first successful material ever to be used in dental veneers. This is because, compared to its predecessors, porcelain veneers are able to hold their strength for years. However, with the introduction of composite resins, the demand for porcelain veneers has begun to decline. This is primarily due to the fact that porcelain is much more expensive than composite resins. On the average, porcelain veneers cost around $1000-$2500 per tooth as of 2009. However, according to porcelain veneers los angeles specialists, the price of porcelain veneers is a fair enough trade for its strength and aesthetic benefits as compared to that of composite resins.

Porcelain veneers are known to last longer, usually 10-30 years, than composite veneers. They are also known to resist a number of stains, usually food stains. In addition to these, another major advantage of using porcelain veneers over composite veneers is the similarity of porcelain's color to the natural color of teeth. According to porcelain veneers los angeles specialists, dentists would sometimes require their patients to add more composite resins to hide the application of veneers.