Old laminates don't die, they just fade away?

I wish it were so, but although porcelain laminates (or veneers) can be long-lasting if they are properly done, they are still subject to failures. They can de-bond, take on staining at the margin, and experience recurrent decay and fractures. My patients have a number of long-term veneer cases and sometimes individual veneers will chip or fracture. Often the "permanent solution" (nothing really lasts forever!) is to fabricate a new veneer or convert the tooth to a full crown.

Sometimes a patient shows up in my office with one of their laminates broken and insists I do something immediately. The photos below show one of my patients with 6 veneers that are at least 15 years old. She had a fractured laminate on tooth #9 that I was able to "temporarily repair" with free hand bonding. I explained that if this didn't work she would have to replace the veneer entirely. The result took me about an hour to achieve, but looks quite nice. I should add that about 5 years ago I did a similar "temporary" repair on her right cuspid and it is still hanging in there! Sometimes temporary fixes can become unintended permanent solutions if my patient is happy and doesn't require a more costly restoration.