Replacing Her Porcelain Veneers Turned Into A Horror Story
Posted by writeradmin
A couple of months ago my dentist removed my twenty-year old porcelain veneers of my upper teeth 7 and was adding a dental bridge. I wanted them whiter. He said that could only happen with crowns. From the moment I got my temporaries, everything felt wrong. He said they’d feel better when the permanent ones come in. My bridge even fell out couple of times before my permanents arrived. Once they were ready, my appointment was over in 45 minutes. I’m still having massive problems. Here are just some of them?
- My lips are sticking together.
- My lips don’t naturally close. I have to force them.
- My mouth is crazy dry. I’m sucking on a lot of popsicles and drinking sodas to help with moisture.
He originally said he had to open my bite so I could show my teeth, but now they’re not showing at all. I’m miserable but my dentist insists he’s met all the checkpoints, which means the crowns are perfect. He thinks the problem is I haven’t adjusted yet. Am I losing my mind? My mouth and teeth felt fine before this. I just wanted them whiter.
Savannah
Dear Savannah,
I am so sorry this has happened to you. First, this isn’t a “you need to adjust” issue. Your dentist both lied to you and screwed up. You do NOT have to get porcelain crowns in order to make your restorations whiter. I don’t know why he told you that. Sometimes, when a dentist doesn’t have the training to do porcelain veneers, they will steer their patients to something they do know, such as dental crowns.
However, I don’t like this. It unnecessarily removes healthy tooth structure. Plus, if he doesn’t know how to do veneers well, it’s not likely you’ll get a beautiful result from the crowns either. In your case, this is more than just how they appear. He couldn’t even get the dental bridge to stay in!
A second issue that bothers me is his ignoring your concerns about how they felt. The temporary crowns should have felt completely natural. The fact that he told you the permanents would feel better is the second lie here. Your permanent crowns are designed from the temporary ones. Why in the world would they be different?
Continuing on with my problems with this issue, is his insistence that they were fine because he met “all the checkpoints.” That’s another fib. One of the checkpoints is that your lips close naturally. So… nope.
Finally, he said he needed to open your bite. This is typically done by a full mouth reconstruction and has to be done carefully by a dentist with advanced training in occlusion and TMJ. From what you said, your bite was already comfortable and didn’t need to be opened. He’s since made it worse.
Your dentist is in serious violation of the standard of care. My suggestion is that you go to a dentist with advanced TMJ training. Have him or her look at your case. If it’s as bad as you’re saying, then ask this dentist to speak on your behalf, asking for a refund. That is necessary because you are going to need to have this entire case redone. But, your current dentist is not able to do it.
On a side note, please don’t suck on popsicles and sodas all day for the moisture. It will cause serious decay. Water would be okay.
This blog is brought to you by an ethical dentist in Arnold, MD, Dr. Meredith Esposito.