Dental Veneers glossary of terms & specifications
15 technical terms, material grades and Irish standards explained in plain English so you know exactly what is on a written quote.
Sorted A to Z for quick reference when comparing specifications (veneersireland.ie — glossary).
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Key dental veneers terms explained
Buccal Corridor
The visible side spaces between your canine/premolar teeth and the corners of your cheeks when you laugh — filled out by an 8 or 10 tooth veneer makeover.
Chairside Trial Smile (Bis-Acryl Mock-Up)
A temporary composite transfer placed over your unprepped teeth from a 3D wax-up so you can test the new tooth length, shade and speech in real life before any preparation.
Digital Smile Design (DSD)
3D facial and intraoral planning protocol that designs ideal tooth proportions in harmony with your lip dynamics and prints a physical 'trial smile' mock-up.
Feldspathic Porcelain Veneer
An artisan ceramic veneer hand-layered with quartz and feldspar powders on a refractory die by a master ceramist to recreate internal mamelons and incisal halos.
Form Med 2 (Non-Routine Dental Tax Relief)
The Irish Revenue certificate signed by your dentist for non-routine dental restorations — including lab-crafted porcelain and E.max veneers — returning 20% against PAYE income tax.
Hydrofluoric Acid Etch & Silane Coupling
The chemical conditioning applied to the inner surface of a porcelain or E.max veneer so resin luting cement forms a permanent micromechanical and chemical bond to enamel.
Incisal Translucency & Halo
The subtle opalescent blue-amber light transmission at the biting edge of a natural tooth or layered E.max cut-back veneer that prevents a flat, chalky appearance.
IPS e.max Lithium Disilicate
A high-strength monolithic glass-ceramic (360–400 MPa biaxial flexural strength) pressed or CAD/CAM milled as thin as 0.3 mm for minimally invasive front teeth veneers.
Minimal-Prep Enamel Chamfer
Micro-conservative smoothing of 0.3 mm to 0.5 mm strictly within the outer enamel layer using depth-limiting burs through a silicone mock-up guide.
No-Prep / Contact-Lens Veneer
An additive 0.2 mm to 0.3 mm ceramic shell bonded directly onto intact outer tooth enamel without drilling into dentine — suited to small teeth, peg laterals or gaps.
Occlusal Nightguard (Michigan / Hard-Soft Splint)
A custom-moulded night guard worn during sleep to protect porcelain and composite veneer edges from nocturnal bruxism (clenching or grinding).
Peg Lateral Incisor
A congenitally narrow, cone-shaped upper second tooth beside the central incisors that can be brought to full width with a single no-prep or minimal-prep veneer.
Provisional (Temporary) Veneers
Joined acrylic or bis-acryl shells worn for 10 to 14 days between your preparation visit and your final porcelain bonding appointment.
Rubber Dam Isolation
A thin latex or nitrile sheet placed during veneer cementation to keep the teeth 100% dry and free from saliva or moisture while curing the adhesive resin.
Vita Bleach Shades (BL1–BL4 / OM1–OM3)
Dedicated bright ceramic shade ingots calibrated lighter than natural Vita B1 for patients seeking a permanently white yet translucent smile makeover.
Real examples and installation detail
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Veneers guides & price breakdowns
Straight answers to what people ask most: itemised costs, specifications, planning or grants, and what to check before you book.
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Questions patients ask
How much do veneers cost in Ireland in 2026?
In Ireland, laboratory-crafted feldspathic porcelain veneers cost €650 to €950 per tooth, ultra-thin E.max lithium disilicate veneers cost €750 to €1,050 per tooth, and composite veneers cost €250 to €420 per tooth. For a 6-tooth upper E.max smile makeover, clinics charge €4,300 to €6,000 gross — which reduces to €3,440 to €4,800 net after claiming 20% Revenue Form Med 2 tax relief.
Do porcelain and E.max veneers qualify for 20% Form Med 2 tax relief?
Yes. Under Revenue's Health Expenses rules (Tax and Duty Manual Part 15-01-12), laboratory-fabricated crowns and porcelain/E.max veneers qualify for 20% income tax relief on Form Med 2 when restoring worn, fractured, peg-shaped or structurally compromised teeth. Purely cosmetic chairside composite bonding is excluded from Med 2.
What is the difference between E.max veneers, feldspathic porcelain and composite?
Composite veneers (€250 to €420/tooth) are sculpted from nano-hybrid resin in one visit with zero drilling and last 5 to 8 years. Feldspathic porcelain veneers (€650 to €950/tooth) are hand-layered ceramic shells lasting 12 to 15 years. E.max veneers (€750 to €1,050/tooth) are pressed or milled from lithium disilicate glass-ceramic down to 0.3 mm thickness, delivering 360–400 MPa flexural strength and a 15+ year clinical lifespan.
Veneers across all 26 counties
Requests from every county in Ireland go to one local specialist who covers your area — with local housing, specification and pricing figures on every county page (Carlow (24 dentists · 1 per 2,582 residents); Cavan (20 dentists · 1 per 4,085 residents); Clare (42 dentists · 1 per 3,046 residents); Cork (345 dentists · 1 per 1,693 residents)).
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