There is No Such Thing as 360-Veneers
Posted by Annmarie SanSevero
I went to my dentist to ask about getting a smile makeover. I told him that I wanted porcelain veneers. He suggested in my case that he would recommend 360-veneers. He said they were sturdier. I specifically asked him if it required taking off a lot of my tooth structure. He assured me that it didn’t. When I got the temporaries, I thought they looked a little dark for my taste. He told me that was just the temporaries and the permanent ones would be much whiter. A few days later, one of my temporary veneers popped off. Beneath the veneer, my tooth was a tiny nub. I was quite annoyed by that because he told me that it wouldn’t require much tooth reduction. Then, after I got the veneers, they were bonded in before I could see them. Once I got a look at them, they were the same color as my temporaries, so still less white than I wanted. That also annoyed me. Now it has only been a week and I’ve had the permanent veneers pop off three different times with different teeth. He always puts them back in. While I appreciate that, I can’t keep going back to the dentist every time another one pops off. It’s nerve wracking going somewhere because I’m constantly worried that one of them are going to come out while I am in public. Is there a way to get my money back so I can get these redone elsewhere?
Lindy
Dear Lindy,
I’ve got some good news and some bad news for you. First the bad news. Your dentist took you for a ride. There is no such thing as 360-veneers. Porcelain veneers only go on the front of your teeth are a teensy bit to the side, but they do not wrap around your teeth. Because of that, very little tooth structure needs to be removed. I would say about the depth of a fingernail.
What your dentist gave you are porcelain crowns. These do wrap around your teeth all the way and require more tooth preparation. If you look at the image above, I have a side by side comparison of their tooth prep. Yours sounds like the crown. In fact, based on the fact that you’re having trouble keeping them in, I would not be shocked to learn that yours might have been even more aggressively shaved.
So, why would your dentist do this?
Be Careful of Dentists Who Suggest Crowns for Smile Makeovers
Doing beautiful smile makeovers with porcelain veneers isn’t really taught in dental school. That instruction requires a time and financial investment at a post-doctoral institution. Be careful, though, because any general dentist is allowed to do cosmetic procedures even if they have not invested in that training.
Dentists who aren’t comfortable with doing porcelain veneers will try to steer their patients to doing crowns because that is something every dentist learns in dental school. Unfortunately, in your case, your dentist misled you. It also sounds like he didn’t even get those right as they are having trouble staying in.
You should be able to get a refund based on him giving you crowns when he told you they were veneers. You should also have an expert cosmetic dentist look at them to see why they are coming out. That will help your case. The best cosmetic dentists are accredited with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. AACD accredited dentists are in the top 3% of cosmetic dentists in the country.
This blog is brought to you by a compassionate cosmetic dentist in Franklin, Dr. Christopher Weber.
