Dr. Hall,
I got 8 veneers in December of 2010. My gums continued to be tender and slightly inflamed for several weeks and I asked my dentist if this was normal. He looked at my gums and told me I just wasn’t flossing my teeth with good enough technique, and that was why my gums were inflamed.
Then at the beginning of March, I noticed a fistula above tooth #10 so I contacted my dentist immediately. He took x-rays at that time and told me I have a root canal and needed it treated ASAP. He brought another dentist into his office to do the root canal treatment, so I assumed that the dentist was an endodontist. The root canal treatment took 4 hours and my gums remained inflamed for 3 weeks (fistula still there). When I went back to the dentist with my concern, he then told me I needed an apicoectomy. At this point I asked if the dentist who had performed the failed root canal treatment was an endodontist, and when I found out it was a general dentist I decided to seek out a second opinion from someone else.
I went to Dr. —– (a dentist on the mynewsmile.com referral list), who has referred me to an endodontist who is “the best.” Dr. —– told me that most likely the area will heal on its own and there is no need for an apicoectomy. He said my gums were inflamed because there was cement on the veneers that was causing my gums to stay chronically inflamed! After Dr. —– scraped that cement off, it has only been a few days and already my gums are less tender than they’ve been in months.
Now I’m really concerned that some major mistakes were made with my veneers because the dentist did no wax-up and was not able to address any of my concerns with the esthetic look of the veneers after the procedure. (One tooth appears chipped, and the dentist told me it was “just the anatomy of the tooth.” Another tooth feels like it is cracked. And I’m not completely sure if the teeth are all completely vertical because they look slightly slanted or off-centered. They definitely look better than my teeth looked before getting the veneers, but I can’t say that look perfect or absolutely stunning. They just look like normal teeth.)
Basically, I want my money back for what he did to my teeth! It sounds like he was negligent in leaving concrete on the veneers, which caused my gums to remain inflamed. And then he did NOTHING when I told him that my gums were red, sore, and inflamed until it was too late. And then he was negligent again by bringing a general dentist into his practice to perform a root canal. According to Dr. —–, the x-rays show that the dentist did an “overfill” on the root of tooth #10 and this was why he was wanting to do an apicoectomy. Is there anything I can do to get my money back for these chipped, cracked veneers which caused me to have a root canal?
Jamie from Southern California
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Jamie,
You have quite the interesting story. You’re a good example for people looking for smile makeovers – showing the need for an expert cosmetic dentist. I wish I had money to run ads on TV warning about that.
When you told me your dentist’s answer to your gum inflammation was that you should floss more, I knew you were in trouble. For anyone doing porcelain veneers, this is a huge red flag and is a big indication that the dentist did something wrong. One of the criteria I use to evaluate the cosmetic dentistry of dentists I list on this website is the health of the gums in the “after” photographs – they should be at least as healthy afterwards as they were before, if the work is done right.
Here’s the deal for your case. To get any satisfaction, you’re going to have to be willing to make the dentist worry that you’ll be trouble for him. I’m sorry to have to put it that way, but I’m basing this on the way he has treated each of your complaints so far – dismissive, not truthful. He needs to worry that this could turn into a peer review case, or could get to the dental board, or could result in a malpractice action. And if you can get him worried about this, that is what will motivate him to refund your money.
And then you need to realize that your esthetic complaints won’t go very far. Since cosmetic dentistry isn’t a legally recognized specialty, the standard of care for esthetic work is the level of quality that would be expected of an average dentist, which is pretty low.
But you do have two areas of common negligence – the cement left behind, which caused gingivitis, and the root canal overfill. Both of these caused pain and suffering, and have threatened the health of your teeth. So you need to let him know that you are aware of these problems, and also let him know that you have another dentist to back you up on these claims. If you were to bring an action against this dentist, having another dentist willing to testify to the negligence is necessary. I wouldn’t reveal the name at this point, but I would let him know that you have that “arrow in your quiver.” And the fact that a general dentist did the root canal is not of itself a problem. Many general dentists do great work with root canal treatments, especially on front teeth, which are pretty easy. But there does seem to be an issue of competence with the dentist taking four hours to do a root canal that should have taken half an hour.
So I would tell this dentist that you have been to an expert cosmetic dentist, a dentist of international prominence, who told you that he had been negligent, but that you want to make it easy for him, so all you’re asking for at this point is a refund.
I hope this is helpful.
I’d be interested to know how this turns out. Please write back and let me know your next step and what your dentist says.
Links:
Click here for a referral to a cosmetic dentist.
Click here to ask the dentist a question.
About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
Unhappy with Lumineers
Just two days ago I took my daughter in to have some Lumineers put on, first four teeth on the top. Prior to this she had braces to fix her teeth, and close in as many spaces as they could. We were told that the Lumineers were the least invasive and would close the gaps and be better than using bonding to fill them in. When talking with the dentist earlier, we saw a picture of before and after from the Lumineer book and said that we wanted them to be more tapered and not square, similar to the picture. They said they would take care of it and let us know when they came in.
When I asked if we could see them first before going on they said yes, but the way they did this was not the way they said they would. She had them in her mouth with some kind of temp material and her mouth was pulled back with a rubber device that really was hard to tell what was going on, and I couldn’t get a good view of them. Earlier they said she could get up and walk around with them in different lights, but this never happened. He assured us that it would look better when they are put on permanently.
I realized right away how big they appeared compared to her other teeth and how bulky they looked. I asked if there was something they could do to taper them, but he said to live with it for a week and see how we feel. I approached this again, and said how big they looked in the front, but they kept telling us how perfect they were. I felt like we were in shock and didn’t know what to say.
So, at home we really could see that these did not fit her face or her other teeth. They were large, straight across and she seemed to be having trouble talking and closing her mouth. Bottom line is that we are very unhappy.
The next day she went to school and the poor girl got teased, horribly. The kids comments were, horse teeth, they look fake, and the nice kids would say, they are nice but too perfect and big.
I see now, after the fact, that you really do need a cosmetic dentist. He claims to do cosmetic work, but when I checked out further, he is a general dentist. I called today and they are going to tapper them more, and they should look a lot better. But now I’m afraid of what the integrity will be. We could try this, but I think we just want them off and be refunded, so we can see a cosmetic dentist. What do you think is our best approach so we can do this without legal matters? We paid by credit card and we are not going through the insurance.
Thanks,
Cindy – Not happy in Oregon
Cindy,
I think there is a decent chance you could get money back to get this fixed right, if you go about this the right way.
I don’t know this dentist you’re talking about, so I’m judging this by what you are telling me. But it certainly sounds like you are right, and you have a dentist there who simply lacks the passion for appearance-related dentistry that you need for a case like this. An excellent cosmetic dentist would have been able to predict that these teeth would end up looking bulky. That is what Lumineers do. Also, an excellent cosmetic dentist would never have rushed through the try-in process, and would not have pooh-poohed your concerns when you first expressed them. He would not have said they will look better when they are put on permanently, and would not have asked you to live with them for a week and then see how you feel. All of these are attempts to brush aside your dissatisfaction.
One of the fundamental differences between dentists who are “fixers” and not artists is that the artists are very sensitive to your opinion of the appearance of their work, and they will deal with even the slightest hint of dissatisfaction.
A problem in dealing with a patient’s dissatisfaction with the appearance of dental work is that the standard of care for dental work involves primarily the function of the work, so it is difficult to get restitution simply because you are unhappy with the appearance. But your complaint is more than just that you don’t like how it looks – you were deceived about how the process would work, and the biggest thing is that you must have told them you didn’t want them to be put on – because you told me that they tried to assuage your concerns by telling you they would look better once they were on permanently – which isn’t true. Plus the embarrassment suffered by your daughter is very real and very documentable.
You say you want to get this resolved without involving lawyers. To do this, however, you will be most effective if you tell them that is your intention, while letting them know that you understand the strength of your position if you actually were to go that route. Here’s how I would proceed.
First, I wouldn’t have them do any more work on this. Wherever you are in the process, stop right now. Not only will this help your case, but it is more fair to them. The less chair time they waste on this, the lower their costs are. Plus that way you are making the strongest statement about your dissatisfaction.
Second, I would be very clear about your dissatisfaction, that you were led on and that you were told things that weren’t true. I would also be clear about the embarrassment being suffered by your daughter. These are your bargaining chips.
Third, you need to enlist the help of another dentist who will be sympathetic and who will go to bat for you, and be the person who will get you the deal from this dentist. Dentists are very conscious of their reputations with other professionals, so the other dentist will be in a little better position than you are to get this done.
I would suggest going to a dentist from out of town, because they would be more likely to take your side on this issue. Find an excellent cosmetic dentist on our list, and go see them for an opinion, and ask what they would be willing to do to help you get a refund of this procedure,
Also, if you haven’t yet paid the credit card charge for this procedure, I would tell the dentist that you intend to lodge a complaint with the credit card company and refuse to pay that bill unless you get a refund. This gives you one more avenue of protection, because the credit card company may be persuaded to take your side in a dispute over the charge.
I wish you well. I feel for your daughter. School mates can be cruel.
Dr. Hall
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About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
Evaluating a cracked porcelain veneer
Dr. Hall,
I have 6 porcelain veneeers on my upper teeth that are about 13 years old. So far, I have replaced 2 of them due to cracking. Recently I noticed a tiny vertical crack in one of the front ones and I immediately went to the dentist who had put them on. He said that as long as I didn’t mind how it looked (it was very tiny) the veneer probably would not crack further or fall off. About a week or so later, I noticed a small horizontal crack on the other front one, about half way up the tooth and about a quarter of the way across (again very tiny). I am extremely nervous about the veneers cracking further or falling off at an inopportune time.
What is your recommendation? Do you think I can get some more time out of these, or should I replace them now? From what I understand getting them off the teeth is a difficult process. Is there a way to repair these without replacing them?
Diane from Pennsylvania
Diane,
I’m not sure how to evaluate these cracks that you’re seeing, not knowing how tiny is tiny. Porcelain can develop small cracks and can still last for quite a while. And if the bond is good that is holding the porcelain to the tooth, that is what gives a porcelain veneer its strength. The porcelain itself is rather brittle, but it’s the strength of the bond to the tooth that keeps it together.
These cracks could have been there for quite a while and you just noticed them. If you want to inspect the teeth carefully, get a small flashlight and shine the beam across the porcelain veneer, so that the light travels through the length of the veneer. In other words, hold the flashlight on the incisal edge of the tooth and point it toward the gums. This will tend to clearly show any cracks or craze lines present in the veneers. Then you can monitor them over time.
My guess would be that the porcelain veneers are fine and will yet last for a long time. But I qualify that because I can’t see them.
The process for replacing them, however, is not difficult at all, if done by an expert cosmetic dentist.
Dr. Hall
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About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
How many porcelain veneers are in a smile makeover?
Dr. Hall,
How many veneers do people have to get to make all of their teeth look whiter?
– Bethany from Florida
Bethany,
The number of porcelain veneers required to do a smile makeover will vary from patient to patient, and you need to determine that in consultation with an expert cosmetic dentist with good artistic sense. One of the screening tools I use when I choose cosmetic dentists to recommend, when I examine their work, is to see how many teeth they have included in a smile makeover. Some dentists will treat someone and make their teeth distinctly whiter, and they will only treat the front six upper teeth. When I see that, I cross the dentist off.
Here are some guidelines:
When there is only a subtle color change, you can get by with veneering six teeth. Sometimes you can even get by with just four, because the canine teeth are naturally a little darker, so your smile will look natural even though nothing is done to the canines.
When there is a distinct color change, you need at least eight veneers on the upper, sometimes ten, sometimes twelve. You need to have someone look at your smile from the side and see how many teeth show. Any tooth that shows in a side view when you have a broad smile, needs to be treated.
Lower teeth can be left somewhat darker than upper teeth. These teeth, in a normal bite, will be overlapped by your upper teeth, and thus they tend to be in the shadows. So if they are darker than the uppers, that is usually okay, except for smiles that show a lot of lower teeth.
Also, you can reduce the number of teeth that need to be veneered by bleaching your teeth before getting porcelain veneers. You can bleach your back teeth and veneer the front ones, or you can bleach the lowers and just veneer the uppers.
Dr. Hall
About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
Follow-up on a single porcelain veneer that doesn’t match perfectly
A couple of days ago, I answered a question from David in Georgia. He had a single cracked porcelain veneer on a front tooth and had a dentist replace it. In answering him, I said that I worried that his dentist, based on how he had gone about matching this one tooth, was not an expert cosmetic dentist and listed several things an expert cosmetic dentist likely would have done differently.
David wrote back with this question:
Dr. Hall,
This has all been very helpful. My next question is, would it be safe to have the tooth veneered again despite it being a third time on the same tooth? Also, would it be reasonable to request that the office redo it for free?
Thanks,
David from Georgia
Here’s my answer:
David,
Yes, it would be safe to veneer the tooth a third time.
No, it would not be reasonable to ask that it be done over for free. If this is indeed beyond the regular abilities of your dentist (i.e. – he or she is not an expert cosmetic dentist), then it is beyond his or her abilities. That’s like buying a meal at Denny’s and then sending it back to the kitchen because it doesn’t measure up to Waldorf-Astoria quality. First of all, it’s not fair. When you’re at Denny’s you should expect a Denny’s meal. Second of all, it’s going to still come back to you as a Denny’s meal. If you want Waldorf-Astoria food, then go to the Waldorf-Astoria.
Dr. Hall
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About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
Replacing a broken veneer
Dr. Hall,
I recently had a broken veneer replaced. Initially, when the veneer came back from the lab it was a little too light. It was sent back to the lab and the technician baked a glaze onto the veneer making it darker. The dentist was then able to remove glaze as needed in order to achieve the desired shade. Everything looked fine, so we bonded the tooth in place and I was on my way.
However, after seeing the tooth in the sun it still appears a little too dark. My question is, can I return to the dentist and have them remove more of the glaze to lighten the tooth, despite it being bonded already?
Best regards,
David from Georgia.
Hello again Dr. Hall, I just emailed you about the shade of my replacement veneer. The case where a glaze was applied to a veneer that came back from the lab a bit too white and then polished off until the desired shade was achieved. I forgot to add that the veneer appears somewhat less glossy than the other veneers. Could this be a result of polishing the glaze off to change the shade?
Thanks for your time. Sincerely,
David from Georgia
David,
I do hope you’re in the hands of an expert cosmetic dentist. When you’re replacing one veneer, manipulating the color is very tricky and it requires special training and artistic sensitivity.
I am worried that your dentist isn’t as expert in this as might be needed for a job like this. Let me recap what has happened and explain what I would have done differently. You went to get the veneer replaced, and when there was difficulty with the first attempt at matching the shade, the technician baked some tint onto the surface of the veneer, and then the dentist polished some of the tint off until the veneer was the correct color. This is an okay technique, though not the best way to get that final match. In my office, I would have sent a photograph of the shade discrepancy back to the lab and a careful description of the color, and tried to nail the color, and maybe done a couple more trips back and forth to the lab to get it perfect. And my fee for a single front tooth was a little higher, because I would routinely expect at least two or three try ins, and I would keep at the task until the match was perfect. Any final manipulation chairside I would have done with tints UNDER the veneer. That is the way I think most expert cosmetic dentists would approach this task. The way your dentist did this makes me think he or she wasn’t familiar with this tinting process or doesn’t stock any of these tints that expert cosmetic dentists use. The problem with the way it was done is that as time goes on and if anything happens to this veneer, such as a hygienist that doesn’t understand porcelain chemistry giving you an acidulated fluoride treatment, or using an inappropriate polish on this veneer, it could abrade away more of the tint and change the color further.
But anyway, getting back to your two problems. One is that this veneer isn’t as glossy now as the rest of them. To solve this, there are special diamond polishing wheels and polishing pastes that will bring the glaze back to porcelain. I’d ask your dentist to arrange to get some of these. Again, this is something that an expert cosmetic dentist will usually have in his or her armamentarium.
The second problem isn’t exactly that the color doesn’t match, it’s that the color match changes depending on the environment. This is called color metamerism. It appears, from what you’re telling me, that there are some differences it the materials between the replacement veneer and your original veneers, and under the artificial light of the dentist’s office they match, but in natural sunlight they don’t. Again, expert cosmetic dentists are familiar with these issues, and they will either double check any critical shade matches next to a window, or they will have special color-correct fluorescent light fixtures in their office. Yes, you can go back and have your dentist polish away more of the tint to brighten your veneer a little more, but be careful, because then in artifical light it may not match. I think in your case, I would err on the side of matching in artificial light, because over time this new veneer may get lighter anyway, and if it doesn’t, you can always have it polished more later.
I hope this is helpful.
And this whole issue just underscores the main theme of this website. Use an expert cosmetic dentist, such as I recommend on this website, for these smile makeovers – not your family dentist or a dentist who SAYS he or she is a cosmetic dentist. There are so many skills required to do this work well, and 98% of dentists simply don’t have them.
Dr. Hall
Click here for referral to an expert cosmetic dentist.
Click here to ask the dentist a question.
David from Georgia had a follow-up question two days later, about completely re-doing this veneer. Read his question and my response.
About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
An impending Lumineers disaster – mynewsmile.com to the rescue!
Jason from California wrote to me two days ago saying that he was going to pay for fixing his nephew’s teeth, but his nephew wanted to do Lumineers, and he was worried about that. I warned him about Lumineers, about their limitations. He wrote back and said the following, and sent a photograph of his nephew, and I commented back. This is truly an impending Lumineers disaster. Hopefully we can help out here.
Dr. Hall,
You are amazing. Thanks so much for the quick response. I’m going to convince my nephew to see one of the dentists you recommend.
Also, I’m attaching a photo of my nephew so you may see his teeth.
The dentist wanting the $18,000 for eighteen Lumineers is… (name deleted).
Again, Dr. Hall, thank you very much for your guidance.
– Jason from California
Jason,
Thanks for sending that info – the photo and the name of the dentist he wants to see.
Red flags here all over the place.
His teeth definitely need work. What I told you before would apply to his case – it would be a choice between traditional porcelain veneers and Invisalign – assuming we are ruling out traditional orthodontics because of the time factor and the discomfort. Looking at his lower teeth, they could also use work, so what I said about just bleaching them may not work that well. But the idea of doing Lumineers on them isn’t too good of an idea, either. Depending on a bite analysis and the x-rays, you may want to do a combination of porcelain veneers on the upper, Invisalign on the lower, or some other variation.
This is absolutely NOT a case for Lumineers. The reason for doing Lumineers rather than traditional porcelain veneers is to avoid having to prepare the teeth. That technique may be okay for teeth that are maybe a little short, that are reasonably straight, that maybe have gaps between them. What he has is just the opposite. The lower teeth are crowded. The upper right canine is sticking out too far. There is no way to get a decent result with this with porcelain veneers without shaving off the parts of the teeth that are sticking out. If he is serious about an acting career, this could be one way to really kill that career – with a phony-looking smile that ends up changing the way he speaks and disrupting his speech. I have had e-mails from Lumineers patients who have ended up getting their upper lip caught on their teeth now, or have ended up with a lisp or dry mouth because the Lumineers have made the teeth too bulky and they end up getting in the way of their tongue or lips or make it so they can’t close their teeth all the way.
And it was very interesting looking at the website of this dentist your nephew wants to go to. This dentist, Dr. [blank], says he’s a member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. However, checking the AACD membership records, he has only been a member for one year, which indicates that he would like to know more about cosmetic dentistry, but doesn’t have a lot of training yet. His CV is lacking any indication of any serious post-graduate training in cosmetic dentistry so far. And then the smile gallery photographs illustrating Lumineers are mostly from the Lumineers brochure, and don’t illustrate his own work. I called his office to get the details on this. There are a couple of photos of his own work on the website, but the esthetic and functional quality of that work, in my opinion, is poor.
Your nephew could definitely benefit from some guidance here. He is about to be supremely disappointed if he goes through with this Lumineers idea with this dentist. This is not an easy case. You need a dentist with strong expertise in cosmetic dentistry and with integrity.
– Dr. Hall
About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
The best way to fix my nephew’s smile
Last June, as a high school graduation gift for my nephew, I said I’d pay for his dental work. I assumed he would choose ortho because that’s really what he needs. Unfortunately, he feels ortho takes too long and he wants to have Lumineers which his dentist is saying will cost $18,000 for eighteen teeth. My nephew knows that they only last twenty years, but he wants a new smile now so he can pursue an acting career. What do I tell him? Thanks!!!
– Jason from California
Jason,
Thanks for writing. I think I can really help you out here.
Since you’re paying for this, I assume you have to approve how this is done. Since you’re older and more mature, I hope you’ll exercise your right to be a guiding hand here, because I worry that your nephew is going to do something short-sighted, waste your money, and waste his opportunity. When you’re old enough to have been scammed a few times, hopefully you become more cautious and more wise.
Lumineers are just one brand of porcelain veneers, and in the opinion of many cosmetic dentists, including me, they are of lower quality – meaning of lower esthetic quality – than most other brands.
I’m going to guess that his main problem is crooked teeth, because you’re saying he needs ortho.
There are two excellent options, and which one you buy for your nephew depends on the situation in his mouth.
And here are the two options:
One would be Invisalign invisible braces. Your nephew, as a recent high school graduate, will have all his permanent teeth erupted already, meaning that he could be a candidate for Invisalign. And a nice thing about Invisalign is he could be bleaching his teeth with the Invisalign aligners at the same time. He would avoid the uncomfortable brackets of traditional braces, and would be done in 6 to 12 months, instead of the 2 years that regular braces require.
The other option would be porcelain veneers. Lumineers are a brand of porcelain veneers, but I get a lot of complaints of people with Lumineers who find they are too bulky, the teeth look chalky and not real, and they make the teeth longer. And when they are done on the lower teeth, I have had complaints of people saying they can’t close their teeth normally after they are done. I would find an excellent cosmetic dentist to do this, and I would stay away from a regular family dentist. Only about 2% of dentists are artistic enough to do a beautiful smile makeover.
Porcelain veneers will make the teeth look straight without making them actually straight. So that has to be weighed in this decision. But it’s not accurate to say they will last 20 years. There is no set lifespan on them, and how long they last depends absolutely on how well they are taken care of. If they aren’t well cared for, they could get cavities around the edges or start staining, and they may only last 5-7 years. If they are cared for carefully, they could last longer than 20 years. Either way, though, they are a maintenance burden, and having the teeth straightened with Invisalign will be trouble-free for the rest of his life.
But porcelain veneers give straight teeth in just two appointments. To a young man, I can understand how even 6 to 12 months can seem too long to wait for results.
Another item I want to discuss is doing porcelain veneers on the lower teeth. Cosmetic dentists usually don’t do veneers on lower teeth. Usually, they can just be bleached, and the case will look beautiful, because lower teeth just don’t show much when you smile. So, since they’re spending your money, you may want to be in on that decision. That’s why it would help to go to a cosmetic dentist you know is respected and who will be honest with you.
If I were you, I would pick the dentist for your nephew and that way you know you’re spending your money wisely. I would have two suggestions. One would be Dr. Les Latner, a highly respected cosmetic dentist who also teaches at UCLA and has a practice right in Los Angeles. He will be more expensive per tooth than this other dentist, but I am worried that the other dentist is over-treating. So the final result may be considerably less. The other dentist would be Dr. Dell Goodrick in Santa Clarita. He has done beauty queens and is well known for his beautiful cosmetic dentistry. Both of these dentists are qualified in creating beautiful porcelain veneers, or in doing Invisalign, so they could give an excellent opinion to your nephew on the pros and cons of each choice as it relates to the condition of his mouth.
I hope this is helpful.
– Dr. Hall
Follow-up:
Jason wrote back, and I responded with an evaluation of the dentist his nephew was going to go to and comments on his nephew’s photograph. You’ll want to read this one. Check out my reply – warning about an impending Lumineers disaster.
About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
A Glamsmile Complaint
Dr. Hall,
I just wanted to let you know my experience with Glamsmile.
I had 8 Glamsmile veneers put on my upper teeth. At first, they were perfect. It’s been 8 months and I now see staining in between my teeth. Where the Glamsmile veneers lay on top of my teeth. The thing space under the Glamsmiles are getting stained by what I drink and eat. Also, something strange happened. I noticed gray discoloration under the Glamsmiles on my two front teeth. These spots were not there and did not show up for about 6 months. The dentist is trying to say it’s due to lighting. I said no, and we looked at the before and after pics. He then said it’s the color of my natural teeth coming thru. I reminded him that my two front teeth have never had any grey spots on them. He replaced one with his own veneer 3 days ago. It looks great but now it’s a lot thicker than the Glamsmile and I’m asking him to replace the other at no charge, of course.
I can also now feel a gap at the top of the Glamsmiles. It’s almost like they’ve slipped down. There was definitely no space when I first got them. Have you heard of any complaints like mine yet? Also, one of them chipped when I was eating cereal. I kept the piece and he replaced it with one of his veneers but made it a lot smaller because he said my lower tooth sheered the Glamsmile off. I can tell you, he’s not too happy about having to replace the veneers but I’m not happy so he better! Thank you!
– Tracey from California
Thanks for your comments. I’ll go ahead and post them, because I think it will be helpful.
I’m wondering if your problems are partly because of your dentist’s inexperience with cosmetic dentistry. I think dentists with strong cosmetic dentistry skills could produce a decent smile with this technique, but the apparent simplicity isn’t so simple for the vast majority of dentists.
Assuming that your dentist didn’t brace you for the possibility of these things going wrong, I think it’s fair to press him to fix this at his expense. Hopefully it will be a good learning experience for him.
Links – please see the web page where I warn people about things that could go wrong with GlamSmile veneers.
About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
Should I get Lumineers or Porcelain Veneers?
Hi Dr. Hall, I have been meaning to get my teeth fixed for about a year now but I am still not sure as to which procedure to get done. I have irregular teeth two of my front teeth are badly shaped one is very thin and has a triangular shape and the other one pretty much looks like a broken tooth. I have been thinking about getting either lummineers or veneers but dont know which would be best. I have heard lummineers crack easily and i went to a cosmetic dentist and he recomended veneers beacuse my teeth are already worn down so they would not have to ground them down much but I am still not sure as to which would benefit me most in concerns to durability. This procedure is very expensive and I am still saving up for it so I want to spend my money wisely and not have to go back to fix more problems which would mean spending more money. If you can please advise me as to which of the two would be a better choice concerning not only the look but most important the durability and which in your opinion can give more problems. thank you.
– Joyce from Florida
Joyce,
I’m going to suggest that you change your frame of mind in “shopping” for a new smile. This isn’t a product like a pair of shoes that you buy and it doesn’t matter where you buy it. This is a work of art and you’re hiring an artist to create it for you. Let’s say a community group asked you to commission a painting for the lobby of a local concert hall. Would you start by picking out the brand of paint to be used and the type of brush? Of course not. But that’s how it sounds like you’re approaching this new smile.
Lumineers is simply one brand of porcelain veneers. So asking whether to get Lumineers or porcelain veneers is like asking whether you should buy a Chrysler or a car. Lumineers is one of many brands of porcelain veneers.
There is a very big difference from one dentist to the next on how well they do with smile makeovers. Some dentists are exquisitely talented at this and they attract movie stars and models who fly to see them from across the country. And then there are many dentists who have no concept of beauty, and I could show you the e-mails I have received from patients who are literally in tears because their “cosmetic dentistry” that they paid thousands of dollars for is ugly. Here’s the deal: dentists pick this field because they like to fix things. 98% of them have an engineering mentality, and they simply aren’t artistic.
Start by picking the cosmetic dentist. And you’re going to have to delve a little deeper than simply that the dentist claims to be a cosmetic dentist. The reason I operate this website is to help steer patients to dentists who are true artists and can do beautiful work. There are a number of dentists who are capable of doing beautiful cosmetic dentistry beyond the handful who treat the movie stars, and that’s the kind of dentists I list on this website. It’s about one out of every fifty dentists who is artistic enough to create a beautiful smile. And the whole reason for this website is that I try to teach people that, and then I research the dentists and ask for photos of their work and I tell the website visitors who those dentists are.
A word about the Lumineers brand. Many excellent cosmetic dentists refuse to do Lumineers. They are strong enough, but they tend to be somewhat opaque and pasty-looking. Plus, because they are a trademarked brand, the dentist has to send them to the Lumineers laboratory in Santa Maria, California, and many excellent cosmetic dentists feel that lab doesn’t produce truly beautiful results. So the best you can get with the Lumineers brand is maybe a “B” smile, even with a great cosmetic dentist. That might be good enough for you. But the little secret is that usually you can get an “A” smile for the same fee or maybe just a little more, like $1100 per tooth instead of $1000.
You said that you went to a cosmetic dentist. I’m wondering how you know that he is a cosmetic dentist. I hope you have more to go on than just that’s how the practice was advertised. You can’t count on that. Cosmetic dentistry is an unregulated field – you don’t need any special training to be able to announce yourself as a cosmetic dentist.
My advice is, before you spend all your money and then write me another e-mail a year from now asking what to do now that you hate your new smile – spend a little more time on this. Get a second opinion from one of the cosmetic dentists on our list. I’m guessing from your area code that Dr. Jose Abadin is probably closest to you, but there are others you could check out. Go to our Florida page, pick one you think you’d be comfortable with, and spend some time picking a great cosmetic dentist. If you do that, everything else will fall into place.
And about the durability – actually even that is mostly dependent on the dentist and the techniques used rather than the material. All porcelains are very hard, but they are somewhat brittle. They get their strength from bonding them to the tooth. When Lumineers crack, it is usually because they weren’t bonded properly.
Dr. Hall
About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
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