Lumineers

Question:

What are Lumineers, and how are they different than traditional Porcelain Veneers?

Answer:

Lumineers (a patented product of the Denmat company) are porcelain veneers made from an ultra-strong feldspathic porcelain reinforced with leucite crystals. The high strength of the Lumineers allows them to be made contact lens-thin, without increased risk of breakage. The company claims that a dentist can place these veneers without the need for anesthetic injections, extensive tooth preparation, or temporaries. These cases, like traditional veneers cases, can be completed in as few as two visits, but may require less chair time since there is very little tooth preparation, and temporaries are not utilized.

Question:

What are the disadvantages of Lumineers?

Answer:

Proper case selection is extremely important with Lumineers, as most people are not ideal candidates, without compromising some aspect of the esthetic end product. First, the company claims that you need little to no tooth preparation, which means unless your teeth are very small and inclined inward, the added material of the Lumineers will cause your teeth to appear more bulky. Second, the company claims that their material can be made contact lens thin, so that they won’t bulk out the teeth. However, if they are truly made that thin, and you are trying to change the color of your teeth to a whiter shade, the darker, yellow color of your old teeth will show through (often times in an uneven, blotchy way), causing the end result to fall way short of your esthetic expectations. Third, in order to make dark teeth appear very white, a certain thickness of porcelain would be required. When teeth are already in the ideal position, any additional porcelain would wind up being too bulky and appear more like chicklets in order to achieve the whiter shade that was selected. Traditional veneers would require enough tooth preparation to allow for the thickness of porcelain to be added to achieve the proper esthetic result. Fourth, the company claims that no anesthesia is indicated since there is little to no tooth preparation. However, since many people have crowded, rotated and protruded teeth, these people may need extensive tooth reduction just to bring their teeth back into the proper alignment. This amount of tooth reduction could become painful without the use of local anesthetic injections. However deceiving their advertising may be, with the right individuals Lumineers can be a great option to have, and can have an excellent end result.

Question:

Who is the ideal candidate for Lumineers?

Answer:

The ideal candidate for Lumineers is someone who has worn away their teeth, has shorter or smaller teeth inwardly positioned teeth (which can stand to be bulked out a bit), and has spacing between their teeth that they would like to close. Additionally, the ideal candidate would be selecting a shade that is similar to what they are starting with, especially if tooth preparation is not indicated or desired, and the porcelain needs to be thin.