Glossary
The words
we use
If you developed the method, you get to name it. This is where those names are defined.
Why a glossary
New work needs new words
For most of what Lovja does, dentistry had no ready term. The cut geometry, the transition surface, the polishing technique had no names — because they had not been done before.
Some names came from patients. Diamond cut veneers for Ceraface and pearly white for Ceramirr took hold on their own. This page gathers every definition in one place.
Products
Three surface characters
Ceramirr is the foundation; every Lovja smile begins there. The patient upgrades chosen teeth to Ceracon or Ceraface. In the lower jaw only Ceramirr is applied.
- Ceramirr — Liquefies light on the surface: a reflection is not a point but a surface that flows without interruption along the tooth's anatomy. A model of curvature management. Known to many as pearly white.
- Ceraface — Breaks light and scatters it. The main facets carry the flow of light; the Dentagon micro-facets make it sparkle. The more Dentagons, the more dynamic the play of light. Known to many as diamond cut veneers.
- Ceracon — Reflects light radially, carrying it linearly across the surface. It joins Ceramirr's broad reflective field with Ceraface's polish quality. Because it resembles no existing structure, no popular name has settled on it yet.
Surface
Geometry and finish
The tooth is read in three zones, each finished differently.
- Dentagon — The micro-facet geometry of Ceraface. It is the unit that breaks the light; the more there are, the richer and more animated the brilliance. A monolithic prosthesis carrying reflective flat surface portions is the subject of a patent application: the WIPO preliminary examination was positive on all claims and the application is now in the national phase.
- Laitarc — The transition surface separating the hidden inner surfaces from the visible Lovja surfaces. It corresponds to the girdle of a cut diamond.
- Lovja surfaces — The visible, mathematically designed outer surfaces of the tooth. This is where Lovja works.
- Elter polish — Our own polishing technique, applied to the Laitarc and Lovja surfaces. If Zaratsu polishing is Seiko's signature, the Elter polish is ours.
- Glaze — The traditional glassy layer. In a Lovja it is used only on the hidden inner surfaces, never on the visible ones. Where there is no glaze, there is no layer to wear away.
- Monolithic — A single-piece body. No coating added on top that could chip or dull over time.
Materials
What can be measured
Hardness is expressed on two different scales: Mohs measures resistance to scratching, Vickers resistance to indentation.
- Zirconium dioxide (ZrO₂) — Vickers hardness around 1200 HV, flexural strength 900–1200 MPa. The dental ceramic most resistant to wear, and the one that reaches a mirror-like polish.
- Lithium disilicate (Li₂Si₂O₅) — Vickers hardness 500–700 HV, flexural strength 360–400 MPa. It transmits more light and gives a depth close to the natural tooth, but does not reach zirconia's polish.
- Feldspathic porcelain — Long held to be the summit of traditional aesthetics: no ceramic handles light more like natural enamel. The price is durability — with a flexural strength of 60–110 MPa it is the most fragile of the dental ceramics. For a century this was the rule of dentistry: the more naturalness you asked for, the more strength you gave up.
- Tooth enamel — Nature's benchmark. Mohs 5–5.5 · Vickers around 300 HV · compressive strength around 380 MPa. The hardest tissue in the human body; Lovja's monolithic ceramic stands far above these values.
- The aesthetics–durability trade — In dentistry, naturalness long meant fragility: the most natural-looking ceramic (feldspathic) was the weakest, and the strongest was the dullest. Lovja deliberately breaks this trade: by going monolithic it works with a body far more flawless at the atomic level — taking its durability from that flawlessness, its beauty from surface engineering, and stepping knowingly from the aesthetic toward the cosmetic. The only thing it gives up is the texture of the natural tooth; in everything else it obeys the rules of aesthetics — and in most of them goes beyond.
- Mohs scale — Resistance to scratching. Tooth enamel 5–5.5 · dentine 2.5–3 · dental zirconia ≈8.5 · diamond 10. Enamel is the hardest tissue in the human body.
- Translucency — How far light passes through a material. High translucency gives natural depth; low translucency holds the light at the surface.
- 217 trillion — A full Lovja set is built on twenty teeth; every upper tooth takes its own decision, chosen among the models suited to its morphology. Within these rules the collection opens into more than 217 trillion valid combinations — roughly six times the number of cells in the human body. That no two Lovjas are ever the same is not a slogan; it is arithmetic.
Concepts
Lovja's own language
- Quantic Design™ — Carrying the aesthetic and the cosmetic at the same time. The aesthetic imitates nature and is measured by going unnoticed; the cosmetic chooses to be seen. Lovja is the union of the two — neither one alone.
- Body-Integrated Luxury — Not an accessory put on and taken off, but luxury that stays with the body. Teeth are the only visible tissue onto which a foreign material can be permanently fixed; this is why it is possible only here.
- Dentagonist — A master who has reached the experience and the skill to bring geometric surfaces together with an organic one. A Lovja surface is neither pure geometry nor pure anatomy; it asks for both to be right at once. Including Dr. Atakan Elter, who developed the method, two people in the world can do this today.
- Diamond cut veneers — The name that settled on Ceraface in everyday use. It describes applying the facet logic of diamond cutting to the surface of a tooth. Lovja developed the method.
- Pearly white — The name that settled on Ceramirr. It describes a reflection that spreads across the surface rather than gathering at one point, as on a pearl.
A new aesthetic language
Five terms entering dentistry
These belonged for a long time to sculpture, to jewellery and to high craft. We are bringing them into dentistry — a language founded not on biological mimicry but on the behaviour of light.
- Rhythm of light — The rhythmic flare that comes alive with the micro-movements of the face in speech and laughter. Invisible in a still photograph; visible in motion.
- Balance of reflection — The setting that keeps the brilliance elegant and stops it tipping into display. It decides not how much light returns, but where it rests.
- Facet direction — The direction a facet faces. Where the light goes is decided not by how bright the surface is, but by which way the facet looks.
- Flow of the curve — The shadow transitions that join the lines of the cheekbone and the facial skeleton. A tooth is never read alone; it is read within a face.
- Optical depth — The sense of three dimensions born of geometry fused with polish. The surface is flat; the depth comes from how the light behaves.
Process
Terms used in the clinic
- Mock-up — The approved design 3D-printed in the clinic in tissue-compatible resin. It is tried in the mouth and can serve as a temporary restoration.
- Trial — The step where the mock-up is assessed in the mouth: aesthetic accuracy, proportionality, facial harmony, bite alignment and symmetry. Both patient and dentist approve.
- STL — The three-dimensional file format in which the design reaches the dentist. The clinic prints the mock-up from it.