Our Dental Blog

Very often we get questions about "Lumineers" and if patients are a candidate for this type of restoration. A Lumineer is a specific brand of porcelain veneer that is heavily marketed to be really fantastic because it can be done without anesthetic and without any tooth grinding. It is basically a "no preparation" (read "no tooth grinding") veneer that is made to be bonded directly over your existing tooth. Sounds great, doesn't it? Well in certain circumstances this really would be a great alternative. The only problem is that there are very few cases that would actually be ideal for "no preparation" type veneers. The ideal case would be when there are very small teeth with gaps in between. Unfortunately these cases are very rare in the cases we see when people want cosmetic dental treatment done. Most cases involve very crowded teeth and teeth that are poorly positioned and crooked. If we were to place porcelain veneers over these teeth without removing some of the tooth to make room for the porcelain, the teeth would end up looking very big and bulky. I think we all remember those cheap Lee "Press-On Nails" that you could get at discount stores. That's kind of like what a Lumineer is like. You can press the plastic over your own nail, but it never really looks real because it just adds bulk to what is already there. So Lumineers, although the marketing hype sounds great, usually are not the ideal way to treat teeth cosmetically. When we do traditional preparation-type veneers, we remove some of the tooth to make room for the new porcelain.. The bad news is that it means we have to use anesthetic and we have to do some tooth grinding. The good news is that we always try to remove the least amount of tooth necessary to create the ideal cosmetic result desired. And this way the tooth always ends up looking and feeling natural, without the excess bulk and thickness that a Lumineer can create. Check out our web site for some examples of how veneers can improve your smile. Or feel free to call for a free cosmetic consultation.