I need help. My daughter is bulimic. I’ve got her in a program to help. It’s her dentist who brought it to our attention. He said her teeth show extensive damage. He’s a family friend. He also told us that she’d need a very good cosmetic dentist and that’s it’s important she feel beautiful. He didn’t think he could give her the type of smile she’d need. My neighbor used to be a patient of yours. You gave her an exquisite smile. Your practice is too far away for us, but I’m hoping you can point us in the right direction.
Thanks for any help you can give,
Maria M.
Dear Maria,
A gorgeous smile requires the best of cosmetic dentists
First, I’m going to say that even though you can’t use your dentist for this smile makeover, you have a fantastic dentist. He’s a keeper. He’s done you two great services. One, by being keen enough to notice the symptoms of your daughter’s behavior through her teeth and telling you about it. Two, by letting you know you needed someone with different skills than he had.
All that being said, he’s right. To do the type of smile makeover your daughter needs will require the best cosmetic dentist available. Normally, with a smile makeover, you’d be talking about porcelain veneers. However, the destruction from bulimia is to the back of the teeth from the acids in the vomiting. Porcelain veneers do not protect the back of the teeth, just the front.
Your daughter will need a full-mouth reconstruction with all-porcelain crowns.
How to Find the Best Cosmetic Dentist
It’s not easy for a potential patient to evaluate the skill of a cosmetic dentist just by looking at their smile gallery. Plus, with today’s photoshop capabilities, how are you to know if they’ve been doctored? Or maybe the dentist just posted stock photos and not his own work? I hate to say it but some people (dentists or otherwise) aren’t honest.
That’s just one of the many reasons the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry set up an accreditation program. This is designed to separate the wheat from the chaff as the old saying goes. Accreditation candidates go through a stringent examination process with both oral and written exams. In addition to that, they must provide evidence of a large specific list of cases they’ve done demonstrating their artistry in their work.
In your place, I’d go to aacd.com and look for an accredited dentist in your area.
This blog is brought to you by Des Moines Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Phelan Thomas.