Lumineers Over Lumineers

I have Lumineers that are old and dingy. They weren’t as white as I wanted when I first had them placed either. My dentist understood I wanted very white teeth but said that wasn’t an available option then. They only had “natural” looking Lumineers back then. I’m wondering, now that you can get much whiter ones if I can put another set over my old ones to get that nice, white smile. Is that possible?

Tania

Dear Tania,

While it is possible, I’m going to steer you another direction. A dentist would have to prep the Lumineers you already have in order to place new ones on. This would take as much work as starting from scratch, which means you won’t be saving money because you plan to leave the old ones in place.

A second issue is that method contains a greater risk. When you bond porcelain to porcelain it is not as strong as when you bond porcelain to enamel. This gives you double the chance of bonding failure, from either the new Lumineers or the old.

Thirdly, you will have a margin where the two Lumineers meet. This will be much more susceptible to both staining and trapping food and bacteria there, leading to decay.

Put all that together and you will be in a much better position if you just have your smile makeover re-done. One caveat here. I’m not going to recommend you use the same dentist. Lumineers are simply one brand of porcelain veneers and they are heavily marketed to inexperienced cosmetic dentists as being “easy to place”. I don’t think your dentist is up to snuff. Getting very white porcelain veneers has been available since they went into production. If your dentist truly understood smile makeovers, you would have had the white smile you wanted from the beginning.

I’d like you to look for a dentist on the mynewsmile.com website. This site is run by a retired cosmetic dentist who is accredited with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He personally screens every dentist who wants to be listed there for both their technical knowledge as well as the artistry of their work. These are some of the best cosmetic dentists and any one of them will give you a stunning smile.

This blog is brought to you by Naperville Cosmetic Dentist Dr. David Newkirk.