Your dentist is only as good as his or her dental laboratory

When a dentist prepares you tooth for a veneer, a certain amount of tooth structure is drilled away to make room for the new improved porcelain veneer. This process of drilling away tooth takes an enormous amount of training, skill and experience. Many dentists have perfected this skill. The dentist than uses an impression material to take a mold of the prepared teeth. This mold is than sent to a dental laboratory for a dental ceramist to make the actual veneer.

The dental veneer is not made by the dentist. The veneer is made by a dental lab and the dentist has thousands of laboratories to choose from. Lab costs vary base on the quality of the veneers, the material it is made from, and the area in the world in which it is made. The nicest and most natural looking veneers are typically hand made individually by a world-class porcelain ceramists using hand stacked feldspathic porcelain. A "high end" ceramist will often get $500 for each veneer made.... where high volume, low quality production laboratories will make machine made veneers for as little as $60 per tooth.

The Dentist's Diplomat

This is an instructive summary of the qualifications and the duties of the present day Dental Assistant -- The Diplomat standing between the dentist and lost income. | read more |