Lumineers keep falling off

Dr. Hall,
Our dentist placed Lumineers over my wife’s top 4 front teeth, that were already porcelain, at a cost of around $5,000.00 On three or four occasions at least one of the Lumineers has come off. The last time, while my wife is visiting her mother in another country, two came off. Is it a good idea to place porcelain Lumineers over existing porcelain? My wife is extremely disappointed and disgusted with the Lumineers.
– Kendall in Florida

Dear Kendall,
You can bond new porcelain to existing porcelain, but it’s tricky, and it sounds like this dentist almost knew how to do that. Generally what experienced cosmetic dentists will do when there are existing crowns is to simply replace the crowns. When you know what you’re doing, it’s about the same amount of work and about the same cost as porcelain veneers. And there’s much less risk of trouble.

A good cosmetic dentist can get new porcelain to bond to old porcelain, but it tends to stain on the margins after a few years. And, as I said, the technique is tricky. The old porcelain has to be etched and primed, and generally only dentists who do a lot of cosmetic dentistry have the proper equipment and materials to do that.

We’re getting a lot of stories of problems with Lumineers, and I think it’s because the company that makes them promotes them as being so easy, that general dentists who know little about cosmetic dentistry are doing them.

I’d insist that this dentist replace these Lumineers with new all-porcelain crowns, assuming he or she knows how to do that, or pay to have you go to someone who knows what he or she is doing and have them do that.

Dr. Hall

Related information:
cost of Lumineers
click here for referral to an expert cosmetic dentist
taking care of porcelain veneers after they’re placed
Vivaneers are a brand of veneers very similar to Lumineers