A prospective ten-year clinical trial of porcelain veneers.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this in vivo study was to evaluate the clinical performance of porcelain veneers after 5 and 10 years of clinical service.


METHODS
A single operator placed porcelain laminates on 87 maxillary anterior teeth in 25 patients. All restorations were recalled at 5 years and 93% of the restorations at 10 years. Clinical performance was assessed in terms of esthetics, marginal integrity, retention, clinical microleakage, caries recurrence, fracture, vitality, and patient satisfaction. Failures were recorded either as "clinically unacceptable but repairable" or as "clinically unacceptable with replacement needed".


RESULTS
Porcelain veneers maintained their esthetic appearance after 10 years of clinical service. None of the veneers were lost. The percentage of restorations that remained "clinically acceptable" (without need for intervention) significantly decreased from an average of 92% (95 CI: 90% to 94%) at 5 years to 64% (95 CI: 51% to 77%) at 10 years. Fractures of porcelain (11%) and large marginal defects (20%) were the main reason for failure. Marginal defects were especially noticed at locations where the veneer ended in an existing composite filling. At such vulnerable locations, severe marginal discoloration (19%) and caries recurrence (10%) were frequently observed. Most of the restorations that present one or more "clinically unacceptable" problems (28%) were repairable. Only 4% of the restorations needed to be replaced at the 10-year recall.


CONCLUSIONS
It was concluded that labial porcelain veneers represent a reliable, effective procedure for conservative treatment of unesthetic anterior teeth. Occlusion, preparation design, presence of composite fillings, and the adhesive used to bond veneers to tooth substrate are covariables that contribute to the clinical outcome of these restorations in the long-term.
Peumans
Marleen
M
Leuven BIOMAT Research Cluster, Department of Conservative Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Oral Pathology and Maxillofacial Surgery, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. marleen.peumans@skynet.be
De Munck
Jan
J
Fieuws
Steffen
S
Lambrechts
Paul
P
Vanherle
Guido
G
Van Meerbeek
Bart
B
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001840:Dental Bonding; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000145:classification; D003763:Dental Leakage / Q000145:classification; D003776:Dental Porcelain / Q000737:chemistry; D017269:Dental Prosthesis Repair; D017268:Dental Prosthesis Retention; D019232:Dental Restoration Failure; D003801:Dental Veneers; D004955:Esthetics, Dental; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008437:Maxilla; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019233:Retreatment; D013499:Surface Properties; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D003776:Dental Porcelain