Preparations for porcelain laminate veneers in general dental practice.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate variations in preparations for porcelain laminate veneers (PLVs) in general dental practice.


METHODS
Laboratory-based retrospective analysis of dies for PLVs.


METHODS
General dental practice in England and Wales (1994).


METHODS
A sample (95 cases) of laboratory models from general dental practice featuring preparations for PLVs was randomly selected from a full service commercial dental laboratory. Aspects of the preparations were quantified and compared with accepted preparation criteria distilled from a review of the literature.


RESULTS
The teeth found to be most frequently prepared for PLVs were maxillary incisors (48%). The majority of cases investigated were for one veneer only (56%). The margins of the preparations were variably positioned with more than half of the preparations (55%) having no clear margin. In accordance with current guidelines the incisal edge tended to have been reduced during preparation (47%). In contrast, most teeth were underprepared with an average depth of preparation of 0.16 mm (SD 0.60 mm, 95% CI-0.1, 0.42).


CONCLUSIONS
There was little evidence that established guidelines for the preparation of teeth for PLVs had been applied in full.
Brunton
P A
PA
Unit of Restorative Dentistry, Turner Dental School, University Dental Hospital of Manchester, UK.
Wilson
N H
NH
D003776:Dental Porcelain; D003801:Dental Veneers; D005792:General Practice, Dental / Q000592:standards; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D003765:Models, Dental / Q000592:standards; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019231:Tooth Preparation, Prosthodontic / Q000592:standards*
D003776:Dental Porcelain