I’m a little worried about my porcelain veneer. I had four placed on my top front teeth. They looked okay when I was at the office. However, when I got home, I realized there was a line going across one of them, like a scratch. I called the dentist and he said to come in the next day and he’d fix it. I did and he did some type of process which smoothed it out. It did do that, but I noticed later (why is it always when I get home?) that the part he smoothed looks dull. I’m kind of disappointed. I paid a lot for these and now they don’t match. While it is a small thing, it seems big because they’re my two front teeth. Is there anything I can do about it?

LeeAnne S.

Dear LeeAnne,

You have a right to be disappointed. Not just because of the money spent, but also because it is your smile we’re talking about. It’s the first thing people notice about you. When your dentist smoothed it out, he also removed the glazing from it. You’ll start noticing in a few days that it will pick up stains.

You need to contact your dentist right away. This way he can’t blame you for the stains. He may do that because he doesn’t really know how to fix it. If he did, he would never have removed the glazing from your porcelain veneers, to begin with. In order to fix this, he’ll need a special diamond polishing kit. Expert cosmetic dentists keep this on hand. Somehow I doubt your dentist does though.

I would ask him to pay for you to get this repaired by someone who’s familiar with the procedure to actually fix it. If he refuses there’s not much you can do except report him to the dental board or get the repair done and then take him to small claims court.

Though, it might help if you tell him you’re going to write several reviews about this incident to warn other patients about his lack of skill as well as his refusal to take responsibility to fix something he damaged.

I’m wondering why you only had four porcelain veneers placed. Most smiles would require between 8-10 veneers because of their width. Though, it is possible you have a narrow smile. Hopefully, your dentist recommended you have your teeth whitened before he did your smile makeover so your adjacent teeth could look similar.

If not, it’s not too late. You can still get them whitened. The whitening gel will not have any effect on your veneers.

This blog is brought to you by Kalamazoo Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Susan Dennis.