Archives for December 2020

Tetracycline Teeth and No Money

Posted on December 31, 2020 by writeradmin.

I have tetracycline stains on my teeth. I had dental bonding placed on my teeth but they are old and chipping. I can’t afford the porcelain veneers my dentist thinks I should get. Is there a whitening option that will work for me? Or if there are ways to get porcelain veneers cheaper than my dentist offers them can you give me that tip? My dentist is one of those top cosmetic dentists so I know he is more expensive than most.

Katya

Dear Katya,

Teeth whitening trays

I will answer your second question first. If you cannot afford to get porcelain veneers from a skilled porcelain veneers, please don’t go to a cheaper dentist. I can tell you countless horror stories of smile makeover disasters from patients who tried to save money by going to a cheap cosmetic dentist. This is especially true in your case because tetracycline stains are one of the most advanced types of cosmetic cases there are. If you cannot afford to have it done right you have a few options.

If your dentist placed the dental bonding over your dental enamel, you should be able to have your dentist remove the bonding with sandpaper disks. In some states, a dental hygienist can do this for you at a lower fee. Once the dental bonding is off, you can whiten your teeth. If you are persistant enough and stay at it long enough it can make a difference. It will not be a great as porcelain veneers but it will make a difference. Don’t use anything over the counter. They are not strong enough and it will be a profound waste of money. In that same vein, don’t use anything like laser whitening or Zoom whitening. Yes, they are stronger than the take home teeth whitening, but they are more expensive. You are trying to save money and it would take way too many sessions to make a difference.

On the other hand, if your dentist did remove some of the enamel on your teeth, the best you can do at this point is have someone smooth out the dental bonding while you save to get porcelain veneers done by a skilled cosmetic dentist.

This blog is brought to you by New Orleans Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Duane Delaune.

Retouching up Teeth Whitening

Posted on December 23, 2020 by writeradmin.

I need to get a dental crown on a front tooth. I know the color will be permanent so I want to retouch up my teeth whitening before settling on the color of the crown. Do you have any tips about how to go about this? Specifically, I am looking at how long I should whiten every day and for how many days.

Caroline

Dear Caroline,

Teeth whitening trays

I’m glad you wrote. I am curious though if your dentist was unable to advise you of this. The reason I ask is because placing a dental crown on a front tooth is much trickier than other dental crowns. It takes some expertise in cosmetic dentistry to do a crown properly on a front tooth. If he wasn’t able to answer the questions about teeth whitening, which does not require expertise, I am going to advise you to find a different dentist at least for the crown.

If it turns out that you do need to switch dentists in order to get a beautiful porcelain crown to match your other front teeth, I recommend you see someone who is recommended on the mynewsmile.com website. These dentists have all been prescreened and are among the top cosmetic dentists in the country.

Touching Up Teeth Whitening

In practice, it is up to you how long each day you leave on your teeth whitening trays. The longer you can leave them on each day, the faster they will whiten. But, if your teeth are sensitive and you can only do them a little bit each day, that is okay too. You will just have to do more days. The fastest would be to sleep in the trays if you can.

While there is no cut and dried rule for how many hours per day or days in general to whiten, there is a standard for how long to wait between the time you stop whitening and you go in for your dental crown. I would recommend giving it one week for the color to settle on your teeth before having the dentist create your dental crown.

This blog is brought to you by New Orleans Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Duane Delaune.

Crooked Porcelain Veneer

Posted on December 16, 2020 by writeradmin.

I had a chipped tooth that had dental bonding done. It was getting old and ended up breaking. I wanted to just replace it but because the chip is 1/5 of my tooth they said it was not possible to replace the bonding. My dentist wanted to repair it using a dental crown but I didn’t want to lose any more tooth structure, so I suggested a porcelain veneer, which doesn’t take away as much. When the veneer came in, the size and shape looked fine. The color was whiter than my other teeth, but I anticipated that because we knew I would be whitening my teeth later. I saw it before they bonded it on and everything seemed great. After they bonded it they told me it was gorgeous and sent me on my way. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized it was a tad crooked and the bottom was too long compared to the other tooth. Plus it sticks out a bit almost like they put on too much glue, which also puts a small gap behind the bottom of the tooth. I called them about it when I got home. They said there isn’t anything that can be done about the length but they can fill in the gap. To me that doesn’t sound like it will make the tooth stick out any less. Is there anything I can do about this?

Morgan

Dear Morgan,

These type of stories are so frustrating to hear. This is one of the big problems with cosmetic dentistry not being a recognized specialty. Any general dentist can do it regardless of the amount of training or skill they have. There are quite a few things wrong with your case. First, the dental bonding. That could have been replaced. My guess is she doesn’t know how to do dental bonding so she steered you toward a procedure she is familiar with, dental crowns.

You were wise not to get that. Not only would it have severely ground down your healthy tooth structure, but it is rather tricky to match a dental crown to a front tooth. With your dentist’s cosmetic skills I don’t think it would have looked very natural. A porcelain veneer should have been fine.

As for it being whiter in anticipation of whitening your teeth, your dentist should have had you do the teeth whitening beforehand, when it would make more sense. You can exactly match a porcelain veneer to the tooth color, but it is almost impossible to exactly match teeth whitening to a porcelain veneer. Plus, whitening the underlying tooth structure is always helpful.

Now to your current problem. I find it curious they let you look at it before but not after they bonded it on. My suspicion is they knew something was off. Even when you get your hair cut they have you look at the result before you get up. It’s interesting to me that they told you nothing could be done about the length. This is just more evidence to me that she doesn’t know what she’s doing with cosmetic work. The length on the porcelain veneers can be trimmed.

However, your situation is more complicated and more serious. If it is crooked, not only will it look weird but there are going to be areas where there will be gaps that can harbor bacteria. This leads to decay under your veneers. The only way to solve your case is to get a refund from this dentist and have the case re-done by a cosmetic dentist with more expertise. My suggestion is you use one of the dentists listed on the mynewsmile.com website. Each of them are prescreened for their technical expertise as well as their artistry.

This blog is brought to you by New Orleans Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Duane Delaune.

Dentist Placed a Dental Implant Knowing it Would Fail

Posted on December 3, 2020 by writeradmin.

I need some advice. I went to see a dentist who said he’s placed a lot of dental implants. I trusted him and now feel like I’ve been taken advantage of. When he “finished” my implant surgery, he told me that he realized I didn’t have enough bone structure and now he wants to know if I would like him to take out the dental implant and give me a dental bridge. Why would he place the implant knowing I didn’t have enough bone for it to work? Can he do this?

Andrew

Dear Andrew,

I’m not sure how your dentist thinks he can get away with this. It is negligence at best. Let’s say that he didn’t know you didn’t have enough bone support before he started the surgery. Why didn’t he? Did he not do the appropriate diagnostics? Did you have a CT scan? If he did, does he not know how to interpret the diagnostics? Or worse, he knew and did the surgery anyway.

You can easily get a refund for this. He knew the procedure would fail and didn’t inform you. Instead, he placed a doomed dental implant. However, now you still have a missing tooth that needs to be replaced.

If you still want a dental implant for your tooth replacement that is possible. However, you will have to deal with the bone issue. There is a bone grafting procedure you can have done that will build back up the missing bone. Once you have healed from that you can move forward with the implant procedure.

Obviously, you will want a better implant dentist. I want you to look at Dr. Delaune’s bio to get an idea of the type of training you want your dentist to have. I’m not talking about his dental school. Instead, look at all his post-doctoral training. This is important. Dental implants are an advanced procedure that isn’t adequately taught in dental school. It requires significant post-doctoral training to really know what you’re doing.

Then, there is the cosmetic factor. You didn’t mention where the tooth was located that you are replacing. Is it a front tooth? If so, you will want an expert cosmetic dentist as well. This way it will perfectly match the adjacent teeth. With a back tooth that will not matter as much, so you could focus on the implant training alone.

For a front tooth, you’ll want implant and cosmetic training. For the latter, I’d look for an AACD dentist. These are the top cosmetic dentists in the country.

This blog is brought to you by New Orleans Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Duane Deluane.