Ceramics Technique

Not many patients are going to come in and ask you to make them a bridge looking like this one. Nevertheless the characteristics and features of the porcelain incorporated into this exercise are fundamental to the techniques used in the micro features of smile design.

The blend of anatomical form, shade, lustre and texture combined to either highlight or dampen-down any one porcelain characteristic. In number 1 an incisal edge halo affect almost acts like a volume control highlighting but dampening - down the wear facet.When building themacroscopic anatomical format number 2 we can expect up to 5%shrinkage which needs to be accounted at the outset of the design, especially when working to amatrix provided by the dentist which has already been signed off by the patient. Horizontal lines at number 3 and perikymata are created using a mediumgrit diamond for some of the surface anatomical details.

The degree of lustre is determined by the age and wear characteristics in themouth. It is created on the bench with a combination of impregnated rubber wheels. All restorations require careful hand polishing after glazing shown at number 5 where further highlights to line angles and facets can be emphasised and exaggerated to create an optical illusion of wider or narrower teeth especially in smile design cases.

Equally, secondary anatomical characteristics and cracks in the worn dentition can be brought to the forefront. Secondary dentine colouration in wear facets in the aging dentition can appear starkly bright and without toning down in the surrounding areas they can appear unnaturally so.

This final restoration shown at 7 demonstrates several features whichmay ormay not be seen together in themouth. Nevertheless it is a required exercise and one of several undertaken by all of our ceramists in the studio periodically as part of our ongoing continued professional development. All of the skills acquired during such exercises are put to good use using lighter shades in the anterior part of themouth for smile design cases.

A combination of such talent, dedicated application, ongoing training and our commitment ensure that our ceramists remain at the forefront of their speciality. Thismeans that we at The Ceramic Arts Studio can consistently provide you with the highest quality restorations which will not only look great but will have precision function.

It is an interesting point to note that as we have an aging population and many of these patients demonstrate various degrees of wear in a worn dentition, it is becoming increasingly common for us to provide restorations with some of these aging dentition characterisations in them. Our ceramists are available to provide customised restorations with you and can see your patients in our shade-taking and smile design suite, either with you to assist in the design of the restoration, or with your patient alone and you can be assured that when sending your patient along to the studio they will be well looked after.

Work by J Deeks
Head of Ceramics at The Ceramic Arts Studio
Froman article published Profth.Dent.No151-05/99