Midline Diastema Closure With Sectional Veneers: Long-Term Aesthetic Risks

The presence of midline diastema is a common complaint of patients that may affect dentofacial aesthetics, and sectional feldspathic porcelain veneers is an alternative treatment with minimally invasive. However, the missing of median-term follow up results makes its clinical application lack the support of evidence. This case series presented median-term clinical outcome of maxillary midline diastema closure restored with sectional feldspathic porcelain veneers Eighteen patients with stable midline diastema ranged from 1.1 to 2.4 mm was included in this case series, and restored with minimal invasive sectional feldspathic porcelain veneers. All cases were evaluated as clinically excellent to satisfactory according to the FDI criteria with a mean follow-up period of 34 months. 5 of 18 cases presented slight to moderate marginal staining, and slight marginal ditching and step were found in 11 cases which may considered as long-term aesthetic risks. To further explain the reason of marginal ditching and step, five isolated anterior teeth were collected and restored with sectional veneers according to the same clinical procedure. SEM observation results showed that the resin cement materials was inevitably exposed at the labial margin after finishing and polishing with exposure width ranged from 23.3 to 87.2 μm. Sectional feldspathic porcelain veneers presented satisfying short to medium term clinical performance when applied to close maxillary midline diastema. The exposure of labial surface margin may increase a long-term potential aesthetic risk due to tooth abrasion and dissolution of cement materials.