PORCELAIN VENEER MATERIALS
Traditional Feldspathic / Leucite Reinforced / Lithium Disilicate
Accuracy - Esthetics - Strength

FELDSPATHIC PORCELAIN
Feldspathic Porcelain: The esthetic standard for over 100 years
Can dentistry's most esthetic and vital looking porcelain be used for veneers? Certainly. It has been for over 25 years. Feldspathic porcelain is the most esthetic and life-like porcelain available and used in the layering or build-up technique of every kind of porcelain today, including pressed, milled, sintered and PBM. Veneers can be made entirely of feldspathic porcelain, in the hands of a talented ceramist. Feldspathic porcelains are also available in various forms for pressing, milling and CAD/CAM. It's all about esthetics and there is no outstanding strength inherent, but it is naturally twice as strong as human enamel. In the form of a bonded veneer, it gains much of its strength from the underlying tooth structure. All veneers were made with this porcelain originally, and many look just as life-like as they did when they were bonded in place 25 years ago.

• The standard in esthetics since 1903
• Fracture Stength - 90 MPa (fracture strength of enamel is 50 MPa)
• The base (glass matrix) of most high-strength ceramics
• Cementation - must be bonded in place
• Used as the final esthetic layered build-up, translucence and stain of most dental porcelain systems
• Normal to low fusing temp (1000 degrees C or lower)
• Unlimited shade selection, unlimited translucence
• System - Ceramic companies supply feldspathic veneer systems including porcelains and supportive materials (refractory)

LEUCITE REINFORCED PORCELAIN
Leucite Reinforced Ceramic Veneers: Increases the fracture strength of feldspathic porcelain by 60%
Leucite is a naturally occurring mineral (KALSi2O6) that reinforces ceramics through the dispersion of internal fracture forces. Leucite was introduced as a ceramic strengthening component in the mid 90's. It has a higher melting point (1900 degrees C) than glass ceramic, that enables eliptical crystals to remain intact at normal (feldspathic) porcelain firing temperatures. The fine leucite crystals block and prevent propagation of microfractures within an esthetic glass ceramic matrix. Only a small percentage, (6%) of this mineral is necessary to increase the fracture strength of feldspathic porcelains by 60%. Lucite reinforced ceramics are available in many forms, as powders - for layered build up, ingots - in pressable systems, block and blanks - for CAD/CAM milling. Lucite reinforced veneers can be used routinely, or when extra fracture strength is required.

• Chemistry: KAlSi2O6, Potassium Aluminum Silicate / Class: Silicate / Group: Feldspathoid
• Naturally occurring mineral/white to dull gray in color / non-fluorescent
• Fracture resistant: leucite crystals block internal fractures in glass ceramic / 6% volume
• Fracture Strength - 140 MPa - 60% more than layered porcelain - leucite crystals block fracture propagation
• Cementation - must be bonded in place
• High temperature fusing (leucite melting temp. = 1900 degrees C)
• Material form: available in powders, blocks for pressing, blanks for milling (CAD/CAM)
• System - Ceramic companies supply ceramics, specialized furnaces and other materials. Systems can be costly.

LITHIUM DISILICATE GLASS-CERAMIC
Lithium Disilicate - high-strength ceramics, gaining in popularity since introduced in 1998
Lithium disilicate in dentistry, is a man-made ceramic material composed of approximately 70% crystalline lithium disilicate, Li2Si2O5. It is a very strong enamel-like ceramic that can be pressed or milled. At 400 MPa flexual strength it is double the strength of other reinforced glass ceramics and most restorations can be cemented with conventional cements. Veneers, because of their non-retentive shape and position on tooth structure must be bonded. Pressed lithium disilicate offers an improved method for delivering thin veneer restorations. Because of the increased flexural strength, thin structures are easier to create, trim and handle. These structures not only have adequate strength to withstand typical laboratory grinding processes, but also exhibit exceptional edge strength to minimize risk of chipping otherwise delicate margin areas. Layering (feldspathic) porcelains are often applied to finish these veneers, especially to incisal areas for add translucence and characterizations.

• Chemistry: Li2Si2O5 (70%)
• Processing - press or milled (CAD)
• Dense crystaline structure resists fracture 
• Fracture strength - 360-400 MPa, 4 x stronger than feldspathic, 2 x stronger than leucite reinforced.
• Cementation - conventional cementation for crowns and bridgework, bonding adhesion for veneers.
• Material Forms: Ingots for pressing / blocks for milling. Full range of shade and translucency.
• System - Ceramic companies supply ceramics, specialized furnaces and other materials. Systems can be costly.