I’m a little worried something is wrong with my porcelain veneers. I loved them when I first got them. It wasn’t until later that night I noticed a sort of divot. I called my dentist first thing the next morning and he told me he could fix it. He even had me come in that morning and did some time of buffing out of the divot. It looked and felt fine while I was there, but by the next day that space looked different than the rest, maybe duller is the better word. Is something wrong with them?
Stephanie
Dear Stephanie,
There is a right way to polish porcelain veneers
You should be a little worried about this because your dentist damaged your porcelain veneer. The good news is this can be fixed. What happened is your dentist removed the glaze from that spot on your veneer. Without that being replaced, your veneer will begin to pick up stains.
I seriously doubt your dentist knows the correct way to polish this veneer to get the glaze back. Because of that, you have two choices. The first is to simply go to a dentist with more expertise in cosmetic dentistry. The easiest way to do that is to go to the website of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD) and use their link to find a cosmetic dentist. Make sure you check that you are looking for the accredited cosmetic dentists. These are the ones with the expertise.
If you go this route, you should also have your dentist cover the cost of the appointment because he is the one who damaged the veneer to begin with.
This second choice is to give your dentist a chance to make this right on his own. Because I don’t think he’ll know what to do I’m going to give you some information you can share with him. This repair will require the use of diamond polishing instruments and polishing paste, ending with an ultra-fine diamond polishing paste. If he’s not sure what to use, I will suggest he get Brasseler’s Dialite porcelain polishing system.
Best of luck to you!
This blog is brought to you by La Jolla Dentist Dr. Stephen Doan.