I’ve been seeing my dentist since I was a kid and have always trusted his work—until recently when I let him do porcelain veneers. I work in a business where I do a lot of public speaking and have always wanted a smile that knocked people’s socks off. I decided to talk with him about the options and he suggested porcelain veneers and that he could do them. I didn’t give it a second thought since he has been a great dentist for so many years. Boy was I wrong! These stupid veneers don’t look at all like my old teeth and frankly, they just don’t feel right. I constantly catch my tongue on them when I talk and that doesn’t bode well for a career in which I talk a lot. Plus, the color is awful. How do I tell my dentist (without hurting his feelings) that I hate them and just want my old teeth back? Is that even possible? — Shireen
Shireen,
Sorry to hear about all your frustration. Here’s the problem though… porcelain veneers can’t just be taken off. When your dentist put them on, he prepped your teeth by removing some of the tooth structure and unfortunately they won’t look right and even worse, they will be susceptible to decay.
While you love your dentist and have trusted his work all these years, it pretty clear that he doesn’t much experience with cosmetic treatments. There are many dentists just like him and while they do these procedures, most don’t have the extra training they need to do it right and they may not do the procedures enough. A skilled cosmetic dentist would have been a much better choice.
If it was simply the speech problem, there’s a pretty good chance you’d get used to it and there are even some small adjustments that could be made to help. But it sounds like there are quite a few larger issues that will only be resolved if the veneers are re-done.
You need to think long and hard about whether or not you would ask your dentist to re-do the veneers. More than likely, you’ll just get the same result. A cosmetic dentist is your best option to correct the issues. You can mention to your dentist that you want them redone and why, and maybe he’ll give you some sort of refund so you can apply it to having them done right. Best of luck to you!
This blog is sponsored by Dr. Stephen Doan. Find out more about the services he provides by visiting his La Jolla cosmetic dental website.