Dr. Hall,
I contacted you earlier this spring about tetracycline staining and porcelain veneers. I was concerned about getting a natural looking tooth and not the opaque “chicklet” look that I have seen on others. Your site was invaluable to me in helping me locate a cosmetic dentist. I had initially thought my regular dentist would be ok until I did enough internet searching to see that if I am going to invest this much into my teeth I want someone that really knows what they are doing. I chose Dr. Leach in Columbus, OH. He did a fantastic job on my teeth and I couldn’t have asked for anything more (except free??). Everything he said made sense to me when I met with him for the consult…bleach until we can whiten them as much as possible, take as little off as possible and he even talked me out of getting the lowers done because the color improved so much with tooth bleaching. It was refreshing to have someone not oversell. I just wanted to follow up and say that I really appreciate the service you provide and put a recommendation in for Dr. Leach. THANKS!

– K from Ohio

K,
Thank you for your kind words!
We do genuinely try to help people and list only great dentists who know what they’re doing. We also try to find dentists who have strong ethical feelings and empathy for the patient, though sometimes that’s hard to judge, especially from a distance, so it’s nice to get that feedback about Dr. Leach. Thanks.
– Dr. Hall

Hello Dr. Hall,
I had a fall from a bicycle when I was seven years old and damaged my front tooth. No root canal was ever done and the pulp just disappeared. Over the years the tooth has become dark and my dentist has tried very hard to place tooth bonding material over the tooth to balance the color, but it is not right.

I am now 50 and very self-concious of it. There are many surface cracks and my dentist is worried it will crumble if we do any reduction to fit a porcelain veneer. Any ideas? Please.
– Helen in California

Helen,
The problem is that your dentist isn’t a cosmetic dentist. Cosmetic dentistry is a very specialized field. Your family dentist sounds like an honest and nice person–if he or she weren’t he or she would have tried to sell you some expensive treatment.

But this tooth will be very easy for an expert cosmetic dentist. I did several cases like this myself. I would tell you how it’s done, but I’m afraid you would be tempted to go to your family dentist and ask him or her to try to do this for you–and that simply won’t work. I can tell from what you’re telling me that your dentist simply doesn’t understand cosmetic dentistry. It takes years for a dentist to learn cosmetic dentistry. Just go to a true cosmetic dentist and that will solve your problem.

Check out one of our recommended Southern California cosmetic dentists. Any of them will know how to fix this and it will look beautiful, and soon you will forget that you ever had a damaged front tooth–it will look exactly like your other front tooth. Have the cosmetic dentist fix this tooth for you, and then go back to your regular family dentist for everything else, because your family dentist sounds like a kind and honest person.

Helen’s response later that day:

Dear Dr. Hall,
Thank you for such a speedy response. I will call tomorrow and set up an appointment.

Helen then wrote the following month:

Dr. Hall,
I just wanted to say thank you for your referral to Dr. Goodrick in Santa Clarita, California. He is a wonderful and compassionate professional, who has the patient’s best interests at heart. For the first time, in so many years, I will have that smile I have missed.

I want to thank you from my whole heart!
Sincerely,
Helen