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.
Unit of Restorative Dentistry, Turner Dental School, University Dental Hospital of Manchester, UK.
P A
PA
Brunton
N H
NH
Wilson
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