I had some composite bonding done on my front teeth after an accident that caused several of them cosmetic damage. The bonding is starting to stain and show its age and I wanted to get it fixed. The dentist who did my bonding passed away and his partner is the only dentist working at the practice. He told me that bonding cannot be redone and he’d need to do dental crowns on those teeth. I figured he knew what he was talking about and agreed. I have so many regrets. First, I only had bonding on three teeth but he said he’d need to do six teeth to get them all to match. I was not too crazy about that idea but didn’t really see an option. Second, the two front teeth are gray compared to the rest of the teeth.
Melanie
Dear Melanie,
You have probably figured this out by now, but your new dentist has absolutely no idea what he is doing. It is a shame because this situation could have been so much simpler for you. In fact, I’m going to add this to my collection of cosmetic dentistry horror stories.
The first thing you should know is that your dental bonding could have been replaced. Unless you had a bunch of new decay, which you never mentioned, then the bonding replacement would have been a breeze for a qualified dentist. He is obviously not a trained cosmetic dentist. Another thing that gives this away is his need to do dental crowns instead of the less invasive treatments. Even if you could not do bonding again (which we’ve already established was possible) then porcelain veneers would have been the next, less invasive procedure. After that, dental crowns would be the next option, but he should only need to have placed crowns on the affected teeth and not ground down the structure of healthy, intact teeth in order to match them.
Even with all those crutches, he still blew it. Your two front teeth don’t match the remainder of your teeth. That’s because it takes an expert cosmetic dentist to match front teeth. they are the most exposed to the light. My hope is your dentist cares enough about his work and patient satisfaction to be willing to re-do his poorly done work.
However, if he does, you need to insist that he use a temporary try in paste so you can make sure the new crowns match. It’s possible he does not even have a temporary try-in paste as it is obvious he does not do enough cosmetic dentistry. If that is the case, tell him a clear glycerin will work just fine. It must be clear or else you won’t get a true representation of the color.
If he doesn’t want to do that, you are better off going to a completely different dentist to have these two front teeth re-done. In that case, I would look for a dentist who has reached accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. That is pretty much a guarantee you will have stunning work done. These are the best cosmetic dentists in the world.
This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Fred Arnold.