I had several porcelain veneers and one dental crown placed. When the temporary ones were done, they looked too long.  Because of that, I asked they be made a little shorter. The did that, but they don’t seem to match. My two front teeth are slightly different sizes. I didn’t really get to see them the second time around, they just cemented them on. I’m hoping they can be made to match. Is that possible after they’ve been bonded on?

Maralynn

Dear Maralynn,

You paid your dentist to give you a beautiful smile and you should get one. Though, I can tell right away your dentist isn’t a true cosmetic dentist. The reason I can say that so confidently, is he never tried them on with a temporary try-in paste first. A true cosmetic dentist wants to be certain their patients absolutely love their smile. Anything less than that is unacceptable and would be re-done until the patient is happy. Additionally, front teeth are extremely important to your smile. It is fairly standard that they would have to be the same size.

Yes, it is possible to fix this issue, but it will mean re-doing the porcelain veneers. I would talk to your dentist about this. When he does re-do them, tell him you’d like to see them with a temporary try-in paste first to make sure it was what you had in mind. When you ask him to re-do it, be nice about it. Not that I think you won’t. Hopefully, he will care enough about the quality of his work and patient satisfaction to do something about this issue.

One problem you may face is it is what is considered the standard of care in dentistry. If they are functional and look decent, it won’t matter if you don’t like them. That is the only standard of care.

This is one of the negative “side-effects” of cosmetic dentistry not being a recognized specialty. It is up to the dentist how much time and training they invest in creating beautiful smiles, which leaves the patient at a distinct disadvantage in knowing who does beautiful cosmetic work and who doesn’t.  If you ever decide to get more cosmetic dental work done, my suggestion is to look for your dentist on the mynewsmile.com website. They pre-screen cosmetic dentists for their technical training and artistry. They cannot simply purchase their way onto the list.

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