My Lumineers are 7-8 years old. Originally I had them on 16 teeth. At the time I had the money….there is no way I could afford this now. Soon after I had them put on by a dentist in Kona, Hawaii, I moved to Austin, Texas and they began to fall off. Two fell off and I paid to have them reinstalled. I told the dentist in Hawaii, and he ended up (after many letters and threats of legal action) sending me a very small refund so I could pay the dentist in Austin. The veneers had also begun to darken/no fit well at the gum line, making me self conscious more and more as time goes on. Since then no further veneers have fallen off, but over the past year I have noticed my front teeth darkening UNDER the veneers, one more than the other. I am afraid that I will need to have them removed and replaced and I definitely don’t have the money to do that. Interestingly, when I first chose the color of my new teeth I nearly chose a darker color to look more natural…as they seemed nearly too WHITE. But now they seem far darker…..I’m not flashing as white as my friends with natural teeth. Anyway….scared and disappointed I guess. Need advice on how to deal with the darkening teeth.
– Debbie from Texas

Debbie,
You’re right that the veneers will now need to be replaced. They are leaking, and the problem isn’t just the color, but when dental work leaks, the next step is that it begins to decay. When stain can leak in, bacteria also leak in.

It doesn’t sound to me like either dentist, the one in Hawaii or the one in Austin, knew enough to do this right. They weren’t bonded right in the first place, as you now understand. But very few dentists know how to re-bond porcelain veneers. The old bonding material would first need to be completely cleaned off, with some type of sand-blasting equipment which few dentists have. Then the inside surface of the porcelain should have been etched with hydrofluoric acid, again something that few dentists would stock. The veneer could then be primed and bonded onto your tooth, where it should remain without leaking for many years.

If your veneers could be just popped off, they could probably be cleaned up and re-bonded properly, and you should be fine. But I’m guessing that the Austin dentist probably bonded them on pretty well, just not well enough to hold up over these years. So they would most likely break in trying to take them off.

Another issue will be getting the new veneers to match your old ones. Make sure you go to an expert cosmetic dentist for this. Don’t look for cheap here–you’ll end up paying more in the long run.

I hope this is helpful.

Dr. Hall