Dental porcelain veneers are made out of ceramic (porcelain) and they’re one of cosmetic dentistry’s most powerful tools in creating beautiful smiles. They’re also called feldspathic porcelain veneer or porcelain laminate veneers or just laminates. Porcelain is very well tolerated by the body and is one of the most bio-compatible dental materials available to dentists. The ceramic takes great communication between the cosmetic dentists and the dental labs to ensure the suitable material selection to best balance beauty, function and strength. The porcelain veneers can be as thin as a contact lens and are bonded onto your natural teeth. Veneers cover the front and sometimes the sides of the tooth and crowns cover all surfaces of the visible part of the teeth. There are several different types of ceramic with varying esthetic properties and strengths. Some common materials used for dental veneers and crowns are feldspathic ceramic and lithium disilicate (Emax).
Zirconia is another type of glass ceramic that is improving cosmetically and is the strongest ceramic type of dental prosthesis. There is another type of veneer called noprepveneers or more commonly Lumineers. These can be great for certain cases and have advantages and disadvantages like all prosthesis types.