Lawrence Gilbert, DDS (retired)

I have had fluoride stains on my teeth from the time I was little. As a teen my dentist placed composite resin on my front teeth as a cosmetic treatment. I hated how they looked after a few years and they caused severe gingival irritation. In the summer of 2004 ( I am guesstimating July) in between undergrad and grad school I saw Dr. Gilbert for a consultation for veneers. I knew someone that had work done by him and seeing their results convinced me I needed to look into it. He showed me a number of before and after photos and spent a lot of time talking about the shape of the tooth, what to think about when choosing color and if I was going to whiten the rest of my teeth how that should affect my choice. He explained everything clearly and made sure I understood completely what to expect from every step of the process and my final result. The office helped me obtain care credit as I financed half of the cost. The details in timing escape me but I think it was approximately 6-8 weeks from the time I had my consultation to when my work was complete. I remember spending a few hours in the chair for the prep and then temps. Taking off the temps and placing the final veneers took about the same time. I had my temps on for maybe a week but again can't recall exactly. I was very comfortable through the procedure and he and his staff were just excellent.

It is almost 10 years later and I still am very pleased with my results, I genuinely don't have anything I want to change about them. I have a cleaning every 4 months and am meticulous about my dental hygiene. A number of the staff that were there when I had my veneers done are still there. Now I have children and I bring my children to them for treatment. I have since moved about an hour away, there are plenty of dentists close to me but I trust these people so much that I make the drive anyway. As an aside, when I was away long distance as a student I kept up with cleanings at other places out of necessity and I had multiple compliments on my work by the other cosmetic dentists and their hygienists.

The only cons that I can speak of is the cost and obviously the time commitment to the process. It was not painful, just "sore" gums for a few days as he did even out my gum line and I had severe gingivitis prior to this work but I did not need any pain medication. I make sure I follow up appropriately and have had no complications. I would absolutely do it again and still receive compliments on my teeth. Most people don't realize they are veneers because they really do look natural. It was costly but it's an investment and I feel it was worth every penny.