We all know what a veneer is, and many reading this will be well versed in how to apply them to a patient. However, do we all know where the veneer came from, from its humble roots to its explosion in celebrity?
I’ll explore this history, in case a patient or partner ever asks.
Dental veneers were invented in the 1930s by Charles Pincus, founder of the American Academy of Aesthetic Dentistry, and were introduced in Building mouth personality, a paper presented to the California State Dental Association at its1937 meeting in San Jose, California.
Despite the fact that these early veneers quite often, and quite quickly fell off, they were just as quickly embraced by movie actors, earning Pincus the soubriquet Dentist to the Stars.
For more than fifty years after the first veneer enhanced smile appeared on the screen their use remained almost exclusively confined to the movie industry.
That changed in the 1980s primarily due to research by R.J. Simonsen and John R. Calamia (see “Tensile Bond Strengths of Etched Porcelain”, Journal of Dental Research, Vol. 62, March 1983, Abstract #1099) which showed that porcelain could be etched with hydrofluoric acid and bond strengths could be achieved between composite resins and porcelain that were predicted to be able to hold porcelain veneers on to the surface of a tooth permanently.
This research, along with numerous other investigations, showed the strength of the etched porcelain bonded to composite resin and also the clinical success of this porcelain to be used as laminated veneers and etched inlays and onlays.
This new modality of treatment ushered in the modern era of aesthetic dentistry, giving you more options with which to provide your patients healthy and functional restorative solutions.
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