I had six porcelain veneers put on a few months ago. The dentist had added color that made the two front teeth look yellow grey. They were replaced. Then later I found out that I had cracks in the two front veneers. So he took them both off again for the third time. The lab is making me new ones. I told them not to put color in this time. The lab man said they were too thin. The dentist would not say what he thought. What do you think? The dentist shaved more off my teeth.
- Jane from Ohio
Jane,
I can’t tell for sure what’s going on without seeing you, but maybe I can be helpful. We see a lot of complaints of patients who don’t like the appearance of their porcelain veneers. This seems so different from the way good cosmetic dentists practice, because the whole reason for doing porcelain veneers is usually to improve the appearance of your smile, and the person that needs to be pleased with the appearance is you. But dentists are trained to be authoritarian about their dental work rather than sensitive to the patient’s desires. At least your dentist is doing this over for you, which is very nice of him. Many wouldn’t do that.
As far as the cracks, it could be that the dentist simply isn’t that familiar with the porcelain veneer technique. Many dentists aren’t. It isn’t taught in dental schools as part of the regular curriculum. Or it could be just a rare, unfortunate accident.