Lumineers©

Serving Sacramento, Modesto and Stockton, California

 

Lumineers© are a brand of porcelain veneers made of Cerinate© porcelain by Den-Mat Corporation.  Den-Mat claims they are extra strong and a little bit thinner than other porcelain veneers. They can be just pasted or bonded over the top of your teeth, often with no drilling. They claim that very little bulk is added to your teeth.

Properly placing Lumineers© requires the artistic touch of a highly trained cosmetic dentist such as Dr. Michelle C. Bartolome and Dr. William Swearingen in Citrus Heights, California. Lumineers© have to be specially designed for the shape of your face. Since often there is no tooth removal beforehand, the smile design process can become quite complicated because the dentist is confined to working with the existing shapes of the teeth. Color control also becomes quite difficult with such a thin veneer. Many factors including hue, translucency, color depth, brightness and highlights all need to be handled correctly for you to have a beautiful smile.

At the current time, the company that makes Lumineers© has a certification program in which dentists take a two-day course to learn how to place them correctly.  Dr. Bartolome and Dr. Swearingen are certified in the placement of lumineers as well as certification in more advanced courses. We recommend that since this procedure can transform your smile and affect your life in many ways, you should only have it done by an experienced cosmetic dentist like ours here in the office. Our doctors are not only experienced and trained in the use of Lumineers but also in many other cosmetic materials and techniques for enhancing your smile.  Taking the two day courses is very minimal preparation for providing the best that cosmetic dentistry has to offer.

Advantages of Lumineers©

• Are often contact lens thin, roughly 0.2mm thick, but are sometimes thicker
• In most cases little or no tooth reduction is necessary
• Anesthetics and numbing injections are often not necessary
• Temporary veneers are often not required while Lumineers© are created
• Can last just as long as conventional porcelain veneers
• Are reversible if no tooth reduction was necessary when they were first placed
• Cost slightly less than porcelain veneers

 

Disadvantages

• Sometimes Lumineers© are both bulky appearing and feeling due to there being little or no tooth reduction done to compensate for added thickness
• Color issues can occur due to lack of flexibility in color control
• The end result often does not measure up to what can be accomplished with traditional porcelain veneers

 

Lumineers© are becoming more and more popular as there are advantages to using them instead of porcelain veneers. However, as was mentioned there are also disadvantages, which means they will not be suitable for everyone. Dr. Bartolome and Dr. Swearingen will determine your goals and evaluate your dental needs and then make suggestions based on that discussion.  Ultimately what material is used to enhance your smile is your choice once you are properly informed about the options.

To learn more about Lumineers© and how they might work for you, please contact Michelle C. Bartolome D.M.D. and Dr. William H. Swearingen, D.D.S. today in his Citrus Heights, California office to schedule your initial consultation.

 

 

 

Email or call us to see how we can change your smile.