Are Lumineers® Right for Me?
Many people have seen the advertisements on television and other places about Lumineers® and are asking about them. But be careful who you have place your Lumineers, because it requires artistic ability to do them right. Many dentists that have little training in cosmetic dentistry are attempting them.
Background Information about Lumineers®
Lumineers® aren’t something completely new or very different from a lot of smile design techniques that have been used for many years. They are just a brand of porcelain veneers. They are a little bit thinner than the average porcelain veneer. They’re 0.3 millimeter thick, where the average is 0.5 millimeter. With extra thinness, it may be possible to give you porcelain veneers without any tooth preparation, and this is an advantage.
The company that makes them conducts two- and three-day seminars for dentists, after which they become “certified” to place them. But be careful. The advertising and their ease of placement is attracting many dentists who are not artistically inclined at all but are tempted by the idea that this is a fairly high-fee procedure that is easy to perform. But the fact that Lumineers are thinner than most porcelain veneers means that more, not less, artistic ability is required to give you a beautiful smile. Yes, in most cases they are technically easy to place. But it takes a dentist/artist to be able to use that technology to create beauty.
A smile makeover with Lumineers®. This case was not done by Dr. Goldstein. It is posted to illustrate how they look in the mouth. Please see Dr. Goldstein’s smile gallery for illustrations of his work.
Dr. Jay Goldstein is such a dentist/artist. Make an appointment for a consultation, and he will tell you honestly whether Lumineers will work for you. They are good for some cases and don’t work well for others. He hasn’t yet done a case with Lumineers® and has not attended their certification course, but he is expert in the placement of porcelain veneers. There is no fundamental difference in technique between one brand of porcelain and another.
The advertising for Lumineers® points out that they can be done with no tooth preparation. Dr. Goldstein has used the “no-preparation” technique with other brands or porcelain, and there are some cases where this works well. But if your teeth have a normal position, you need to understand that this technique will make your teeth about two millimeters longer and will make them a little bulkier. If this works well with your face, then fine, but if it doesn’t, you need a dentist who will be honest with you about the results you can expect. Dr. Goldstein recommends this technique if the teeth are inclined to point backward into your mouth, and if there isn’t a dramatic color change involved.
Give us a call.
Disclaimers:
*Lumineers® is a registered trademark of Den-Mat Holdings, LLC. Our use of this term should not be construed to imply that Den-Mat sponsors or endorses this web page, or that Den-Mat is in any way affiliated with Dr. Goldstein or his dental practice.
Read postings on Dr. Goldstein’s blog about Lumineers®.