Measured diagram
How is a porcelain veneer bonded to the tooth?
A close-up through the middle of the feldspathic veneer in the step-by-step figure, with a 0.5 mm scale. The enamel left under the preparation is etched, the porcelain's inner surface is sandblasted, etched with hydrofluoric acid, cleaned with phosphoric acid and primed with silane, and resin cement joins them; veneers whose bond stayed on enamel have failed far less often than those bonded to dentine.
What the drawing is measured from
- In 580 veneers followed for up to 12 years, those whose preparation stayed in enamel survived at 99 per cent, while veneers bonded to dentine, or with margins in dentine, were about ten times as likely to fail. Gurel et al. 2013, The International Journal of Periodontics and Restorative Dentistry. DOI
- In a laboratory study on 70 upper central incisors, ceramic veneers bonded to an all-enamel surface held about twice the shear bond strength of those bonded to dentine alone, about 20 against 10 MPa, and keeping at least 40 per cent of the bonding surface in enamel preserved the bond. Zhu et al. 2022, BMC Oral Health. DOI
- For glass-ceramics such as lithium disilicate, a systematic review of 83 laboratory studies found that etching with hydrofluoric acid followed by a silane is the most widely accepted surface treatment before a resin cement. Tian et al. 2014, Dental Materials. DOI
- In 62 lithium disilicate veneers in 12 patients, measured on silicone replicas by micro-CT, the median gap at the margin was 100 micrometres without preparation and 140 micrometres with minimal preparation, and the internal gap averaged about 0.17 to 0.22 mm. Karagözoğlu, Toksavul and Toman 2016, Quintessence International. DOI
- On upper central incisors, preparation depths of up to 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 mm in the cervical, middle and incisal thirds kept all of the bonding surface in enamel; 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 mm kept only 24.4 per cent. Gao et al. 2022, Operative Dentistry, laboratory study. DOI
- Labial enamel thickness at 1, 3 and 5 mm above the cementoenamel junction: 0.48, 0.81 and 0.95 mm. Cone-beam CT of 1,600 maxillary central incisors in patients aged 18 to 40, Diagnostics 2024, PMC11592583. In agreement with micro-CT of 20 central incisors, which found a range of 0.461 to 0.966 mm. Enamel also thins significantly with age, so these are not lifetime values. DOI
- Drawn as Dr. Khalid bonds a veneer: to enamel, with resin cement, the porcelain sandblasted, etched with hydrofluoric acid, cleaned with phosphoric acid and primed with silane. The etched enamel and the porcelain's etched surface are drawn wider than life so they can be seen; their widths are not measurements. The cement is drawn 0.1 mm thick, close to the gaps measured at veneer margins; it is representative, not measured on this tooth.
Use this diagram
Free to use, including commercially, with credit.
This diagram is published under CC BY 4.0. You may reproduce it in articles, teaching material, presentations and patient information, print or online, without asking. The one condition is that you credit Dr. Khalid Aletaibi and link back to this page.
It is published this way on purpose. The measurement in this drawing is not something the people selling the treatment tend to publish, so it is more useful spread than kept.
Credit line
Bonded to enamel. Dr. Khalid Aletaibi, CC BY 4.0. https://khalidaletaibi.com/en/diagrams/veneer-bond
HTML embed
<figure>
<img src="https://khalidaletaibi.com/figures/veneer-bond-en.svg?v=2" alt="Bonded to enamel" width="100%">
<figcaption>
Bonded to enamel. <a href="https://khalidaletaibi.com/en/diagrams/veneer-bond">Dr. Khalid Aletaibi</a>,
<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>
</figcaption>
</figure>