I had crowns placed overseas. At the time I noticed they were longer, but I was told that I would get used to them. Time has passed but still think that they are too long, and would like to have them shortened about a mm. I emailed some dentists in the Chicago area, but I was told Dr [RS bleep] won't do changes on other dentist's works. My crowns are fully ceramic, lab made (not CEREC), but I was wondering how hard would it be for me to find someone who could shorten them and how much would that cost
Answer
The upside to traveling outside of the United States for dental work is that it is a lot cheaper. The downside is that you may get poorer quality results that you will have to live with for years to come because you can not easily return when you have an issue. Most dentists prefer not to make changes/adjustments to other dentists work and usually recommend returning that that dentist to have adjustments made. The best thing to do is find an excellent dentist for your routine dental care and explain your situation to them. Your new dentist will more than likely have you sign a waiver stating that if the crowns fracture, if you're still unhappy with the crowns, etc. he/she is not responsible. I hope this helps. Follow me for more questions and answers.
Dr. Sarah Thompson, DMD
Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
Answer
Why did you have the crowns done overseas? Were you living out of the country at the time or did you have them done in another country to save money? It is true that most dentist's prefer not to adjust the work of other dentists because if you are unhappy with the results you will expect the dentist to repair a mistake that wasn't theirs to begin with. It may be difficult to find a dentist who will make these adjustments without having you sign a legal document stating that if anything happens to the crown they are not responsible. This is one of the real problems of having work done in a foreign country. You can't easily return when there is even a minor problem.
Answer
There are a few issues here. First thing is you have to be careful when getting dental treatment in other countries. The US has very strict guidelines for quality of care that most countries do not have. Second, whenever you get crowns they should feel relatively natural. You should not have to "get used to them". Third, most dentists will not alter another dentist's crowns because if they adjust it and break it they will be expected by the patient to fix it for free which will cost the dentist hundreds of dollars (lab fees, overhead) when they never got paid to begin with. Try going to a corporate dental office.
