I fell on the ice at the skating rink and chipped one of my front teeth. I wanted to get it repaired because it was embarrassing. When I went to my dentist, he suggested Lumineers. the price is pretty high and he said he’d need to do two of them to make sure the front teeth match. I’m not sure I can afford that. Are there any other options?

Vera

Dear Vera,

Absolutely! What your dentist is suggesting is not only an overtreatment, but it is not likely to turn out okay if he or she does it. Lumineers are a brand of porcelain veneers that are highly marketed to inexperienced dentists as being easy to place. They may be simpler to place, but getting them to look beautiful is still just as challenging if not more.

The standard procedure for a chipped tooth is to have dental bonding done. This uses composite bonding and rebuilds the area that was lost. Like porcelain veneers, it is a very advanced procedure. It takes an artistic cosmetic dentist to be able to do this well. Based on what I have heard from you, I don’t think your dentist has the skills to do this well. It was especially concerning to me that he needed to do two of them in order to get the teeth to match. A true cosmetic dentist can make a single porcelain veneer match the adjacent tooth. When they need to make two teeth together it is a particularly bad sign.

My suggestion is you find a different dentist and have them do dental bonding. Two words of caution here. First, check that they have post-doctoral training in cosmetic dentistry. Dental school does not teach those procedures so they have to invest time and money in learning it after dental school. They should list their training on their website, either on the page where they talk about the procedure, their dentist bio, or both. Then, once you’ve found someone with the training, look at their smile gallery. You want to be certain it is a dentist that obtains beautiful results with their work. If you look at their smile gallery and aren’t thrilled with what you are seeing, move on to a different dentist.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.