Need Advice from an Expert Dentist

I’ve been told you’re one of the best dentists, including with cosmetic dentistry. I think I’ve made a huge mistake in allowing my family dentist to do some work. I don’t know if it can be fixed at this point. I’ve always had tetracycline stains which have made me afraid to smile. I finally felt I was in a place financially where I could do something about it. I spoke to my dentist about getting porcelain veneers. He said that was the wrong treatment and what I needed were porcelain crowns. I was a bit leery of that because it meant grinding down my teeth. He said to trust him. He’s the dentist and knows this will last longer. He also said it would help with my gummy smile. Can I tell you that embarrassed me even more? I guess I’d been so preoccupied with my stains that I never even noticed how bad my gums looked. That made me even more insecure and I quickly agreed to let him go forward. He did four crowns, but they look weird and were a contrast with the teeth next to them, which didn’t take to any whitening I tried. And to top it off you can still see the stains under the crowns. Depending on what type of light I’m in it can be even more prominent. Can this be fixed?

Adelaide

Dear Adelaide,

First, let me thank you and whoever recommended Dr. Thomas to you. He is among the top cosmetic dentists in the country. I’m very sorry to hear about your experience. Your family dentist made quite a few mistakes. It can be fixed but it will require re-doing your case entirely. Let me see if I can go through some of this a bit at a time to help you get a gorgeous smile.

Start by asking your dentist for a refund. Explain that you’re going to have to get the case re-done and you’ve been advised to go to an expert cosmetic dentist. You can show him this post if it helps. Your family dentist likely meant well, but was in over his head. Tetracycline stains are among the most complicated cosmetic cases to deal with. It honestly would take one of the best cosmetic dentists in the country to treat this so your dentist shouldn’t feel too bad.

I’m going to recommend you find a dentist who’s passed accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD). There’s a difference between a member of the AACD and an accredited member of the AACD. Any dentist can join. Accreditation requires a great deal of training and artistry. They have to pass stringent oral and written exams as well as demonstrate their artistry with a large selection of cases they’ve worked on.

Any one of them will give you a gorgeous smile. In fact, most of them have a beautiful smile guarantee.

What Went Wrong with Your Smile

• Crowns instead of porcelain veneers: There are three things which annoy me about this. First, he did an unnecessarily aggressive procedure because he wasn’t comfortable with the correct procedure. Second, the fact that he didn’t pass you on to a more qualified dentist means you are stuck with crowns for the rest of your life because he ground your healthy teeth down to nubs. Third, he pulled the offensive “I’m the expert, therefore, don’t question me” tactic. You were right and he wasn’t. It’s never a good idea to get rid of healthy tooth structure when there are better procedures available.
• He just gave you four crowns: Because of the depth of darkness with tetracycline stains, teeth whitening isn’t usually effective. Cases like yours require between 8-12 porcelain veneers depending on how wide your smile is.
• He didn’t understand the color issues involved with tetracycline stains: The trick is to cover the stains without them looking too opaque. It takes an advanced understanding of color and technique to do this.

Once you get with the right dentist for this procedure, I think you’ll be thrilled with your new smile.

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