Seems like this “cosmetic” dentist is in over his head

Dr. Hall,
I recently replaced my four veneers, two on each side of my front teeth. A few things did not come out as I wanted, but I was willing to overlook them because I just wanted to be DONE with this!!!!

The things I was willing to overlook:

1. When my dentist tried my two canine teeth on; they were too bulky and stuck too far out. So he polished the right one; this created a dark spot on the tooth. This was obvious, so he immediately agreed to replace it.
2. My left canine teeth still sticks out more than the others. But again, I was willing to overlook it because I felt too greedy asking for a perfect smile.

Before proceeding to cement my veneers the dentist showed me what they would look like and all look well. But later that day at night I noticed that my veneers looked darker; they looked grey! In day light my veneers look fine, but in artificial light they’re noticeably darker than my two front teeth. This is very noticeable especially since I whitened my two front teeth prior to the procedure. I immediately called my dentist to explain what happened. He told me he couldn’t do anything about it. He also stressed the fact that he showed them to me and I said it was fine. And this is true, but he showed them to me during day light- the windows were open and there were no artificial lights on. Had I known that the shade could change with different types of light, I would’ve asked him to close the windows and turn the lights on. But I never knew to do that, especially because my old veneers never changed in color depending on the light.

Please advise me what to do???? I can’t be stuck for 10 years with this problem. I’m extremely self-conscious about it and don’t even want to smile in public. Please help!!!! Thank you!
– Evelyn from California

Evelyn,
I’m not getting a lot of good vibes here about your “cosmetic dentist.” I’m wondering how you came to pick him.

The problem with your canine tooth concerns me. When it was tried on it was too bulky, so he polished it back and discovered that made a dark spot on the tooth. I’m sorry, but it sounds like he is learning as he goes. And so you are accepting that these two teeth are too bulky and are going to just live with it. Any dentist who has much passion at all for cosmetic dentistry would never tolerate that in a result but would do it over until it looked beautiful and you loved it.

The color problem you have is called color metamerism. Under one light, the porcelain matches your natural teeth. Under another light, they don’t. Apparently this is another surprise for your dentist who doesn’t appear to be aware of this principle. Excellent cosmetic dentists learn all these things.

It isn’t true that your dentist can’t do anything about it. He can replace the porcelain veneers. But if it were my front teeth, I wouldn’t let him do that but would try to get a refund. It seems like he is in over his head.

I’m guessing here, because I can’t see your case and don’t know your dentist, but what you are telling me leads me to believe that you asked the wrong dentist to do this artistic work for you. 98% of dentists are engineering types. They like to fix things, but they aren’t artistic and they have little passion or feeling for appearance-related dentistry. When I talk to a dentist, there is one question whose answer will tell me a lot about whether or not the dentist is an excellent cosmetic dentist, and that is, “What do you do if the patient doesn’t absolutely love what you did?” The really good cosmetic dentists won’t hesitate – they will send the case back to the lab if the patient has any doubt at all about how it looks. In fact, they will tell me that usually they are more demanding about the appearance of the work than the patient. That’s the kind of dentist you need.

I see from your city that you are about half an hour from an excellent cosmetic dentist that I recommend. I believe this office will give you a free consultation appointment just to take a quick look and verbally explain what some of your options might be. That’s what I would do.
– Dr. Hall

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