Is a Translucent Crown or Porcelain Veneer always a good idea?

Although translucent crowns or porcelain veneers can look extremely natural, sometimes they can allow a dark tooth surface to influence the final shade. If the underlying tooth color is not very different than the final shade than often no opaquer needs to be used by the ceramicist. If on the other hand the underlying tooth structure is more than one shade darker than opaquer should be blended with the porcelain.

When I am doing an anterior crown or veneer, I often photograph the prepared tooth surface and give the technician a 'stump' shade. This allows the ceramicist to guesstimate how much opacity should be added to the porcelain to mask out any darker colored underlying tooth structure.