03-23-09 | Posted by Wendy Lewis

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MEET THE SMILE ARCHITECT

Celebrity dentist Marc Lowenberg, DDS won’t kiss and tell, but the dental team of Lowenberg, Lituchy & Kantor on New York’s Central Park West have probably enhanced more famous smiles than they can count. They have also helped maintain the gorgeous teeth of supermodels and actors such as Naomi Campbell, Jodi Kidd, Julianna Margulies, and Cindy Crawford, to name a few. The late Kevyn Aucoin, one of the most beloved makeup artists of all time, dedicated a section of his best selling beauty book, Making Faces, to them. Best known for producing natural looking, top quality veneers, the dynamic trio of LLK never met a smile they couldn’t make over. www.lowenbergandlituchy.com

What is the hottest weapon in your arsenal for beautifying teeth?

Pola Advanced Tooth Whitening System plus in office bleaching is a big advance. The hydrogen peroxide solution is so strong that we can do the procedure in half the time (only three 8 minute cycles). Since it doesn’t need a high intensity light, there is less tooth sensitivity. It’s also more effective for whitening the teeth.

Is there anything new in the art of porcelain veneers?

We are now using porcelain veneers in combination with Invisalign technology first to slightly straighten the teeth before doing the veneers. This way we remove much less tooth structure and the veneers can be even thinner.

Whose smiles are most requested by your clients? 

Catherine-Zeta Jones, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Julia Roberts, Christy Turlington, Courtney Cox, Cindy Crawford, Angelina Jolie, Matthew McConaughey, Patrick Demsey, and Penelope Cruz.

What kind of mouth is the most challenging to transform for you?

The most challenging mouths to restore are: severely stained teeth from tetracycline (our ceramicist has mastered it), teeth that protrude terribly (the Invisalign/veneers combo gives a one-two punch), and when the lower jaw protrudes causing the lower front teeth to meet the upper front teeth straight on edge to edge. In these cases, we sometimes need to do porcelain onlays or crowns on a few of the back teeth to give us room to lengthen the teeth in the front.

What are your top tips for keeping your smile looking youthful?

1. Keep the color looking bright as they begin to yellow with bleaching, bonding, or veneers.

2. Make sure your two front upper central teeth are long enough so that 1-2 millimeters of them show when your lips are relaxed and slightly parted. As we get older, the upper lip sags down, and the biting edges of the front two teeth wear down and become shorter,which creates an older looking smile. Restoring the length gives you a more youthful look.

3. Fix worn out and chipped edges with bonding or veneers.

4. Take good care of your gums through flossing, brushing, and twice yearly dental visits, so your gums have a pink, healthy look of a younger person. Unhealthy gums that are red, swollen, or receding, lose their youthful look .

Can you describe the differences between an “American” smile and a “British” smile?

The British are famous throughout the world as having relatively dark, crooked teeth, often with spaces between, and some irregularities. Our British patients typically prefer more subtle improvements. Americans, possibly because big screen movies began in Hollywood, tend to covet the smiles they see on the silver screen and TV.  Americans are also known for going  ‘Too White,” which is something we always advise against. We go for a “Perfectly Imperfect Smile,” where the teeth are a softer white, often with a very subtle imperfection in shape in one ot two teeth so they are extremely beautiful, yet look like the smile you should have been born with.