I was so excited to get my Lumineers. I do like their shape, but they’re not as white as I was hoping. When I mentioned it to my dentist he said that’s because he didn’t want me to have a fake looking smile, so he put a slight stainer on them. They don’t look stained, just a little less bright than I’d dreamed about. Can I whiten them?

Melissa A. – Seattle

Melissa,

I hate it when I hear stories like yours. This is the problem with having your family dentist do your cosmetic work, without knowing his credentials. Lumineers, especially, are heavily marketed to inexperienced cosmetic dentists as being easy to place.  The problem is they haven’t studied all they need to about aesthetics, so they do things like stain the veneers.

Unfortunately, once your Lumineers have been permanently bonded on, there’s no way to change them. If you want them whiter, they’ll have to be re-done.

The key to any type of cosmetic dentistry is choosing an experienced, highly trained and artistic dentist. Ideally, you’d want a dentist that is accredited by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD). If that’s not possible, at the very least look at some photographs of cases they’ve done to see if you like the results that dentist gets.