I had six porcelain veneers placed. The color wasn’t exactly what I wanted but close. I noticed that the front two were pretty bulky, which looked weird and called my dentist. He told me to come in and he’d work on it. What he did was file them down a bit. Interestingly, the color underneath is whiter, more like the color I wanted. This sort of surprised me as I assumed they’d be all the same color throughout. However, they’re now dull-looking next to the other shinier veneers. My smile doesn’t match at all. Can that part be fixed?
Katherine
Dear Katherine,
This is one of those things we hear about a lot. A well meaning family dentist tries to do a smile makeover but gets in over their head. The problem stems from there not being a specialty in cosmetic dentistry combined with the fact that dentists get no smile makeover training in dental school. That means in order for a dentist to do a wonderful job with something like porcelain veneers, they have to invest in a significant amount of post-doctoral training. This is a huge investment of both time and money. Your dentist may be just starting out on that journey.
You mentioned being surprised that as he got to lower layers in the shaved porcelain veneers the color changed. My guess is he was as surprised as you were. There is a bigger problem here which likely surprised him as well, is that he took of the glazing on the veneers he shaved down. That is why they look dull to you.
Without the glaze, your porcelain veneers will quickly begin to pick up stains. This can be fixed by your dentist polishing them back up with a diamond polishing technique. My guess is, however, he neither has the equipment nor knows the procedure to make this happen.
You paid for a beautiful smile and should get one. Most expert cosmetic dentists even have a beautiful smile guarantee. I would simply tell him to re-do the two veneers he damaged. However, this time, before he permanently bonds them on, he needs to use a temporary try-in paste so you can see them in several lights and decide if they are what you are happy with. He shouldn’t bond them on until you are thrilled with them.
This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Fred Arnold.