Dr. Hall,

I would like to send photos of what we consider is a bonding error. My granddaughter (25 years old) had a gap fixed between her two front teeth, and then had her lateral incisors bonded to make them a little larger. She immediately remarked on the color difference between her front teeth and her lateral incisors. But the dentist then told her, “The color difference was to match your eye teeth.” But then later he told me on the phone that he used the same material on all her teeth. So these are two different stories. The central incisors look fine and the color looks fine, but he told my granddaughter that he used a darker color on her lateral incisors to match the eye teeth, but he told me he used the same color.
He now wants further payment for a correction. He says to try whitening toothpaste too. I already paid $350 for whitening by tray and gel, and $900 for the bonding work. Her lateral incisors are a definitive blue/grey.
Where can I send pictures?
Thanks
John from Ontario

(Note – John then sent these photos of his granddaughter’s teeth after I told him how to send them)

Before dental bonding[/caption]

After dental bonding error showing color mismarch.[/caption]

You can see in the after photo that the lateral incisors look substantially darker than the centrals.

Dear John,

Actually, truth be told, the lateral incisors should be slightly LIGHTER than the central incisors—just slightly, and then the canine teeth are darker, in a natural smile. I think this dentist knows that, which makes it seem like he is trying to make excuses. So my answer is, yes, this is a dental bonding error, a cosmetic dentistry mistake. The teeth look fake and her smile doesn’t look natural. And you didn’t ask about the shaping of these two lateral incisors, but that looks off, too. The tooth color error is particularly noticeable and makes the case unacceptable, in my opinion. Like you said, they’re kind of a gray putty color and are actually darker than even the canine teeth.
But then the next question is what do you do about this. You say that you’re okay with the work that was done on the central incisors. It looks like there was a chip in one of the centrals that he must have fixed and a gap between the two central incisors that he also closed. That much looks okay to me, thought the photo is a little fuzzy.
There are two directions to take in trying to get some satisfaction from this dentist. You can ask that he fix it himself, or you can ask that he pay to have someone else do it right. Generally it is better, when you’re talking about cosmetic dentistry, to forget about trying to turn the first dentist into an artist. That just doesn’t happen. So I usually recommend getting someone else who can do it right and getting some compensation from the first dentist to cover those costs. But in this case it looks like he maybe did okay on fixing the central incisors (though the photo isn’t as sharp as I would like). And while the shaping of the laterals isn’t great, you seem satisfied with that and are only concerned about the color.
You’re welcome to take this dentist my email here. I would recommend not being confrontational. Like I said, it appears that he did a nice job on the central incisors. See if you can get him to agree to re-do the bonding on the laterals. Bleaching isn’t going to work. Toothpaste isn’t going to work. I kind of think he knows that, too. The color is embedded in the bonding, and it needs to be removed and replaced with a lighter color. It needs to closely match the central incisors, maybe just a teeny tad lighter.
And then, of course, this needs to be at his expense. You paid to have a nice smile, and you haven’t gotten it yet. He should make good on the work.

Dr. Hall

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