What’s your opinion of Lumineers?

What is your opinion on the new Lumineers?. I have good teeth with a few chips on the upper two front. One dentist wants braces first and then grinding and crowns; the other says Lumineers will fix it. I am reluctant to grind down my healthy teeth so the Lumineers sounds like a good option. But as they are relatively new, I wonder about the quality compared to traditional veneers/crowns.

Thanks.

- Roger from Florida

Roger,

It’s hard for me to fully answer your question without seeing your case. And there are some things I don’t understand. Are the crowns being suggested just for the teeth with chips? If so, I would disagree with that. I think that is overkill. And why braces? Is that related to the chips? I don’t understand where the braces come into this treatment plan, so there must be something about this I don’t understand.

The Lumineers are a fine material. But here I’m going to try to read between the lines of your e-mail. You’re describing this problem as just “a few chips.” So, that leads me to assume that you don’t need this treatment for the sake of the health of your teeth. For health’s sake, you don’t have to fix chips on your front teeth. So it appears to me that you’re doing this for the sake of the appearance. And if that’s the case, then you need an artist.

People become dentists because they like to fix things, and they simply aren’t good, 98% of them, at creating beautiful smiles. So, I think the key question is, “Is your dentist an artist?” It’s not the material being used that’s critical here, it’s the talent of your dentist. That is IF you’re doing this for the sake of the appearance. If you’re doing it for the function or because the edges of the front teeth irritate your lip and the appearance really doesn’t matter much to you, then any good dentist can do this.

And about the braces, most adults seem to prefer the Invisalign invisible braces rather than the traditional wire and bracket kind. Click the link to read more about this.

Other questions:

  • My dentist said I have leaky fillings. How can I know if he is right, and what does that mean?
  • I had a dentist recommend an all porcelain crown for my front tooth but a porcelain fused to metal crown for my molar. What’s the difference?
  • Is there a way to put porcelain veneers over crowns? I have crowns across the front, but would like them whiter.
  • I was told that composite fillings on back teeth don’t last as long as amalgam fillings. How long do the white composite fillings last?
  • Trey has one crooked front tooth that sticks out and wants to know if he’s a candidate for porcelain veneers.