I’m so heartbroken. I went to my dentist to get porcelain veneers to finally get a pretty smile. He told me I would be a better candidate for 360-degree wrap veneers. I asked if that would take off too much structure and his response was “hardly any.” I trusted him and put myself in his hands. I think I made a huge mistake. The temporaries they gave me kept falling off but he told me that was because they don’t use strong cement. Now, I have the permanents and though the look is a little better than my natural smile, it is not the gorgeous smile I was hoping for. The worst part is the permanent ones keep popping off too. Three times now. Plus, my teeth when they come off look like little nubs. That is not the “hardly any” he told me. I’m afraid to go anywhere because they keep falling off. The dentist asked if I’d been following his instructions and I have. I don’t eat anything hard. I cut up my food very tiny. It doesn’t matter, they are still coming off. They’re talking about a new cement, but I’ve lost confidence in them. What do I do?

Carol Anne

Dear Carol Anne,

I am very sorry this happened to you. Being generous, I am going to say your dentist is ethically challenged. You should know there is no such thing as 360 wrap veneers. That is a “synonym” for dental crowns. Below is a picture of porcelain veneer tooth preparation.

As you can see from the picture above, only a few millimeters of structure is taken off the front of your teeth. This is because veneers do not wrap around. That is what crowns do. You mentioned your teeth look like little nubs. My guess is they look a bit like the picture below.

Why Give Me Crowns Instead of Veneers?

One of the first things dentists learn how to do in dental school is a dental crown. So, they graduate knowing how to do that. Though, your dentist seems to struggle with even that basic skill. Porcelain veneers, on the other hand, are a cosmetic proceedure. Cosmetic dentistry is not taught in dental school. Instead, dentists have to voluntarily take post-doctoral classes in the procedures.

Because of that, dentists who do not invest in that training will steer their patients toward dental crowns instead of saying, “I don’t know how to do those.” It’s one thing to steer your client in another direction. It’s totally a different thing to lie to them about what they are getting, which is what happened in your case.

In addition to that, your dentist can’t even make crowns that stay in. He deceived you and the work is not functional. My suggestion is for you to ask for a refund and then find a cosmetic dentist that can actually fix this for you. Unfortunately, you are stuck with crowns now that your teeth are ground down, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have beautiful crowns that give you the smile you wanted AND will stay put. By the way, you should be able to eat whatever you want without them falling out. He’s trying to blame you for his incompetence.

This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Crisit Cheek.