Dr. Hall:
I have had porcelain veneers for 22 months now. I have had all of them fall off and one broke in half since I have had them. The dentist kept gluing them on till I decided to have a new full set made. The pain has been excruciating and now that my new veneers have been on (8 days) I had one fall off yesterday. I have terrible pain when the air hits my teeth and also when I bite down to eat. Do you recommend that I keep going back to the dentist to keep up repairs or seek legal help.
—Tracy in New Jersey
Tracy,
Don’t go back to this dentist to get them fixed—he or she doesn’t seem to know what they are doing. But you may not need legal help for this, just another dentist to back you up. So here’s what I’d do first. We have a number of expert cosmetic dentists listed on our site in New Jersey—find one of them and find out what the problem is and get this fixed. Get everything fully documented—photos and notes. Then the best thing is to have this new cosmetic dentist call the original dentist and see if you can get payment to get this fixed right. But if they won’t do that, then you call the dentist. I’ve seen cases where the dentist, just to not have any trouble, pays for the work to be done right. In fact, that’s what usually happens. But if you get resistance, then contact a lawyer. And from the sounds of what you’re telling me, you have a pretty good case.
You also need to get this pain fixed really soon. The teeth being exposed to the air is very irritating to the pulp of the tooth and you could end up needing a root canal treatment if this isn’t treated promptly.
These porcelain veneers should not be coming off. I’m sure you’ve learned that by now if you’ve researched this on the Internet. This is a case of either the lab or the dentist or both not knowing what they’re doing. When they are properly bonded, they adhere so firmly that they act like they’re a part of your tooth.
You’re learning the hard way the difference between a dentist who claims to be a cosmetic dentist and one who really is. Go to a real cosmetic dentist, and get taken care of properly. Get everything documented well in case the first dentist gives any resistance.
Dr. Hall
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