Lumineers and receding gums

December 30, 2009 – 7:13 am

I have a few teeth with receding gums. Can lumineers be made to cover up the exposed gums also if I have my teeth covered by lumineers?
- Jeri from Missouri

Jeri,
You have to be very careful about what dentist you will allow to do this, but with a highly artistic dentist, yes, you can use porcelain veneers to cover your teeth and make them look more natural when you have receding gums. When done right, your smile can be made to look more youthful and it won’t appear like you have receding gums. But it’s a situation where the cosmetic dentist needs a lot of experience with smile makeovers and a strong sense of artistry to be able to create a natural-looking result, because the exposed roots have to be camouflaged, long teeth have to be made to look shorter, and the dark triangles that usually occur with receding gums have to be dealt with.

And you asked about Lumineers, but I answered with the more generic term of porcelain veneers. Lumineers is a particular brand of porcelain veneers, and I believe there are better brands. So don’t get hung up over the brand name. In fact, I would stay away from dentists that promote themselves as “Lumineers” dentists. Most expert cosmetic dentists don’t like to use the Lumineers laboratory because it’s a large, impersonal laboratory. Especially for a case like yours, you will need a more customized approach.