For years I have dreamed of having a really beautiful smile. I recently came into some money and decided to get porcelain veneers on my upper teeth. There is nothing major wrong with my teeth. They are a little small, and pretty stained, but overall structurally OK. One tooth is crooked, but it is not so bad that I ever considered braces.
And that is kind of why I am confused. The dentist I am working with says I should do Invisalign braces before we place my veneers, and that is kind of confusing to me. I thought the porcelain veneers would take care of any crooked teeth. Aren’t they also referred to as “instant orthodontics”? My dentist says that after I have the Invisalign treatment, the prep required to place the porcelain veneers would be minimal, which certainly sounds like a bonus, but is it really worth the time and expense? A year of treatment, and thousands of dollars don’t seem like a good trade for a few millimeters of tooth that will be under a veneer anyway. He wants to place Lumineers, but I’ve been reading kind of negative things about them on the web.
Do you have any advice?
Cecelia in Shreveport
Dear Cecelia,
Without seeing your case, it is impossible, of course to make definitive recommendations. It may be that you have a bite problem you are not aware of, or serious crowding issues. You really need to pursue this inquiry with your dentist, as it is quite unusual to recommend both procedures. Normally you would do porcelain veneers OR Invisalign, but not both together.
In this case, a second opinion is necessary. Go to a well recommended, experienced, artistic cosmetic dentist, and tell them what you want to have done. For the most accurate results you really should see a cosmetic dentist that also does Invisalign treatments. Don’t tell the second dentist about the recommendations of the first dentist until after he or she has offered an opinion. In this way you can get the truest assessment of the second dentist’s opinion on the best treatment options.
Best of luck.
This blog post is courtesy of Baton Rouge dentist Dr. Perry.