So many of my patients are asking about Lumineers. “How do they differ from porcelain veneers?” First of all, they ARE porcelain veneers, but a newer and more high-tech kind of veneer. Lumineers are about half the thickness of a typical porcelain Veneer, or ‘finger-nail thin’, yet just as strong and durable. Because of their tiny thickness, there is usually no need to remove any sensitive tooth structure when applying Lumineers to your teeth.
Lumineers usually take two appointments to be placed on your teeth. The first visit involves preparing any teeth that may be misaligned or slightly rotated, and to take impressions of all the teeth that the lumineers will be designed for. Do I have to be ‘numbed up’ for the procedure?” It is rare to resort to using any anesthetic, as the process to prepare the teeth for the Lumineers is usually entirely painless.
“Must I leave the dental office with tooth-colored temporaries as I would for porcelain veneers?” NO! Although some of your teeth might look a tad different in shape due to smoothing or recontouring, the teeth look just fine after this first appointment- without the need for temps. In fact, many of my patients say that the slight tooth recontouring I perform actually makes the teeth look even better than when they came in! When I make Lumineers, I am concerned not only with making your smile appear many shades whiter, but making the shape of the tooth more natural-looking, and more eye-pleasing!
A specialized lab fabricates the lumineers, and when you visit our dental office about 2 weeks after that first appointment, the Lumineers will be bonded to your teeth. As in the first appointment, NO anesthetic is needed during this final, and exciting appointment.
LUMINEERS are one of the more popular aesthetic smile make-overs I do. Since no one wants to have a phony-looking, ‘white chicklet smile’, be sure your own dentist has had lots of experience in designing the natural light translucency and reflectance that one finds in teeth- into the lumineers. You want your family and friends to look at your smile and instantly say, “Wow! What’d you do to your smile? It look fantastic!”
To see before and after pictures of Dr. Reifman’s Lumineers patients, Click Here!
Edward M. Reifman, DDS
818.990.6659
