How long do porcelain veneers last?

Ceramic selection is the variable dentists control at the prescription stage. Feldspathic porcelain, fired and layered by hand, produces the most natural light transmission for anterior esthetics, but its flexural strength sits around 60-70 MPa. Lithium disilicate (e.g., IPS e.max) presses to roughly 400 MPa and handles parafunction better. For cases where the patient grinds or the preparation is borderline in depth, pressed ceramic is the safer material call.

Lab execution determines how long the material spec actually holds. A veneer milled or pressed at 0.5 mm uniform thickness at the incisal edge behaves differently from one that varies between 0.3 mm and 0.9 mm across the surface. Dani Dental's digital workflow runs intraoral scans through a validated CAD step before any ceramic is touched, catching thickness deviations before fabrication. That step alone reduces the refit conversations that cost chair time.

For prosthodontists and general dentists doing high-volume anterior cases, communication with the lab before prep appointment matters as much as the prescription form. Shade mapping, incisal translucency targets, and emergence decisions made at the planning stage produce veneers that seat the first time. Cases where that conversation happens land differently than cases sent over with a photograph and a shade tab.