I had 16 year old bonding on a front center tooth that my dentist replaced with a porcelain veneer. It’s the one on the left. The bonding covered a chip in my tooth that I had in sports accident when I was 22 years old. The bonding got discolored and it actually chipped very slightly on the inner edge. It wasn’t very noticeable to others but I didn’t want it to get any worse. I asked me dentist about replacing the bonding and she said that too much of the tooth was affected to do bonding again so she recommended a crown. After finding out that my tooth needed to be shaved down to get a crown, I asked for a porcelain veneer.
I spent a lot of time at my dentist’s office because she wanted to make sure the veneer matched my teeth which were whitened 3 months ago. She also let me try on a temporary veneer to make sure it looked good. I was excited about finally getting my tooth fixed so that it looked natural.
3 weeks ago I got the final veneer and my doctor did the temporary paste in. I agreed that it was what I wanted. So she bonded it too my tooth. She and her assistant agreed that my tooth looked great. Then they seemed to be in somewhat of a hurry to get to another patient and my dentist said she would check out my tooth in 2 weeks just to make sure everything is okay.
I got to my car and looked at my tooth in my rearview mirror and it looked thick and off center to me. I did a selfie picture of my smile and sent it to a friend. Without my saying anything she noticed that the tooth looked off center. I didn’t tell her that it was actually a porcelain veneer. I called my dentist’s office on the way home and they told me to schedule another appointment. The response I got was that the tooth must have shifted. I am not comfortable about letting her fix my tooth because I don’t trust my dentist to remove the veneer and put it back on. Why after all of that checking is my veneer crooked? Could my tooth really have shifted? Kayla
Kayla – Your description really sounds like the porcelain veneer was incorrectly positioned when it was being bonded to your tooth. The hurried action after it was bonded and cured seems to indicate that your dentist saw that the veneer wasn’t placed correctly.
It is also concerning that your dentist recommended a crown or a porcelain veneer instead of replacing the dental bonding. Dental bonding is a faster, less invasive, and less expensive option that can produce beautiful results. A skilled cosmetic dentist would recommend dental bonding as the first option for restoring your tooth.
An expert cosmetic dentist might be able to remove your porcelain veneer without it cracking, clean the bonding off the veneer and your tooth, and re-bond the veneer. Otherwise, the veneer will need to be replaced. Your dentist hasn’t made the offer to correct the situation, so it is unlikely that she has the skill required to do it.
Take pictures of your tooth, document your conversations with your dentist, and ask for compensation, depending on whether your porcelain veneer needs to be removed and bonded again, or replaced.
This post is sponsored by Lowell, MA dentist Dr. Michael Szarek.