Help! Lumineers Gave Me Horse Teeth

I got Lumineers. My dentist suggested that brand so I wouldn’t have to grind my teeth down.  But, now that they’re done, they’re so bulky that I feel like I have horse teeth. Can this be fixed or should I move to England?

Miranda H. – Oregon

Miranda,

I have some friends from Great Britain who would be simultaneously offended and ammused by your question.  Don’t pack your bags for London yet, though it is a great place to visit.

Your issue with your Lumineers is a common problem.  They’re marketed to inexperienced cosmetic dentists as no-prep, easy to place porcelain veneers. Unfortunately, that is just not the case.

Your dentist told you that Lumineers would prevent you from needing to have your teeth ground down. I’m not sure exactly why he said that. Your teeth wouldn’t need to be ground down for ANY brand of porcelain veneers. Only dental crowns require such aggressive removal of tooth structure.

Lumineers are advertised as no-prep, which means there won’t have to be any mild shaving of the tooth surface. But, there is so little surface removed under normal circumstances that you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between prepared and un-prepared teeth.

Even with Lumineers, sometimes, depending on your particular smile, you would need some tooth preparation or the result will be bulky teeth, as you’ve discovered in your case. Unfortunately, if they’re already bonded on, the only way to “fix” them is to have them re-done.

I wouldn’t have the same dentist do them. He or she obviously doesn’t have the right skill-set.  Look on mynewsmile.com to see which cosmetic dentists they recommend for your area.  Any dentist on their site will be highly skilled and can give you a gorgeous smile.

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