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Dental Lab Products | April 2009
Forward Trends: Veneers

New Face of Veneers

Advanced materials, technologies, and procedures for creating esthetic, durable veneers can expand profitable revenue streams even in a tight cosmetic market.

by Richard Palmer

Photo: Den-Mat Corp.

What a difference a year makes. In spring of 2008, the U.S. and world economies were shaky, but hadn’t shown many signs of their eventual crumbling, just yet. Then in the fall, the official word came that we had, in fact, been experiencing a recession for nearly a full year. But the worst was still to come with failing banks, falling stock prices, soaring unemployment, and growing anxiety of an uncertain future in spite of a new administration.

Back then, the dental profession was still riding high on the economic boom that had been rolling along during the previous few years and had stirred demand for cosmetic procedures of all sorts from patients—from chairside bleaching to full-mouth revamps. Lab owners responding to a direct-mail survey in April 20081 indicated the majority (55.8%) had experienced increased demand for restorations for strictly cosmetic purposes over the past year, while more than two-thirds (70.5%) reported an increase in cosmetic work stretching back over the previous five-year span.

In both of these categories in the 2008 survey, less than 4% said the demand from dentists for strictly cosmetic restoration had decreased in the designated time period (3.4% over one year, 2.9% over five years). Overall, the business of creating cosmetic restorations was healthy and robust for the dental lab industry. →

What goes up

Though dentistry is often thought of as fairly “recession proof,” the turmoil that has affected the global economy was bound to have a trickle-down effect. “Since October, we’ve seen a little bit of a drop, and it hasn’t picked up yet,” said Keevin Shigenaka, CDT, General Manager of All-Ceramics at Glidewell Laboratories. “That’s across the board. Last month, we were up just barely 0.5%, and we were ecstatic about that.” In talking with others in the lab industry, he has heard that many laboratories are not breaking even so far this year. Without the benefit of insurance reimbursement paying for elective restorative work, cosmetic-based dental procedures, both in-office and indirect, are paid for by patients directly out of pocket and driven primarily by emotion for wants-based rather than needs-based reasons. In an economic down-turn such as now, consumers and patients tend to reign in discretionary expenditures in anticipation of potentially worsening finances. “Right now, people are holding on to their money,” said Shigenaka. “But that doesn’t mean they don’t plan to use it. Everyone’s concerned, but at the same time, how much is everyone really altering things?” Veneer placement is one such cosmetic treatment that the recessionary economic situation appears to have affected already. The latest DLP exclusive survey2 shows veneer work has tapered compared to previous years. Less than one-third (31.8%) of survey respondents indicated an increase in veneer cases in the past two years, with the remaining percentage of labs reporting either a flatline (46.4%) or decrease (21.9%).

Can still go up

Even though most survey participants2 believe demand for veneer cases will stay the same (51.0%) or even decrease (20.8%) this year, the design behind cosmetic materials and fabrication techniques continues to evolve. In addition, the professional marketing campaigns by laboratories like Glidewell with its proprietary Vivaneers brand or Den-Mat’s well-known Lumineers brand (which it also markets directly to patients) has brought the option of veneers as an easy smile makeover within the financial grasp of patients and provided laboratories and practices with the means to increase elective treatment acceptance.

Veneer fabrication has transformed from the time-consuming, labor-intensive, and technique-sensitive process of refractory model or platinum foil build-up of porcelain powders by the highly trained ceramist, to the less-technique-sensitive wax-and-press processes performed by a technician with skills that can be aided by preformed or custom printed/milled wax forms, to the dental technologist working at a CAD/CAM workstation and designing veneers to be milled from ceramic or lithium disilicate blocks.

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