Had Crown Lengthening/gum Lift and Am Now Waiting to Get 6 Feldspathic Veneers - Santa Barbara, CA

I had a very gummy smile with tiny teeth. I have always hated my gummy smile! Finally, at age 57, I had crown lengthening 2 months ago and am proceeding with the 6 veneers in a few weeks. The crown lengthening procedure was not painful, took about 3 hours and was expensive at $7500. I experienced very little pain or discomfort after the crown lengthening but had to eat soft foods for a week. During the healing stage of the crown lengthening, I have had to endure my teeth looking very strange with huge gaps and misshapen teeth and gums. This has been a bit of an embarrassment, but it will be well worth it. There is already a huge difference and a friend asked why I didn't do this 20 years ago. The answer is that the technology was not there and I didn't have the excellent dentist/periodontist that I am now fortunate to have. There has been some rebound tissue where the gums have began to grow back, but hopefully my dentist will address this with the veneer prep. I want to mention that there are many different types of Veneers and it's important to research your options. My dentist uses the Feldspathic because they are the thinnest and most real looking. The fabrication is quite involved and requires an expert lab. It is important to be proactive with your dentist. I actually downloaded photos of shapes of teeth and took these to my dentist to show him what shaped teeth I wanted. I am now bleaching my teeth so the color of the veneers will be attractive. I want light teeth, but not fake Hollywood blinding white teeth. I did have bonding done to close gaps many years ago and it has held up. I also had some minor gum contouring twice, which did not last, so I had to take the radical crown lengthening approach. I wish I could just do more bonding, but it just won't give me the esthetic look I desire. I think it is very important to find a dentist who is adept at veneers. I have noticed people who have inflamed purple gums after veneers. This is not normal and there is a problem with the margins of the veneers. Also, the color and opacity of the veneers are important factors. I have noticed that many veneers look fake like piano keys. There is no color gradiation and the veneers look like one solid color. Natural teeth have different shades. Hope this information helps people who are considering crown lengthening and veneers. I am neer prep in a couple of weeks

I am so disappointed with the final veneers! They look fake, opaque, too white, too large and have small triangle shaped gaps in between each tooth. I really trusted the dentist because he is excellent at restorations. He showed me photos of some of the veneers he had done and they looked very natural.

I drove 1 1/2 hours to the dental lab to have the color custom matched. The tech held up two shades and said she would blend them. I noticed that she was sketching some shading on a piece of paper which indicated she was aware of the color graduations in the teeth. I asked to see a wax up and she did not have one.

When I arrived at my appointment, I asked to see the veneers and they were laying in a box and not on a model. The dentist starting preparing to cement the veneers without me even approving the size, shape, or color. I asked to see them tried on the teeth before cementation and he laid them on for 2 seconds and said be careful not to move because they will fall off. If I would have seen them actually tried in, I would have said send them back to the lab. As he was working, I asked about the color and he said they were a bit lighter. I also asked about adjusting the color with the cement and he said he could. Then I mentioned that the lab tech said that many times she will come with her tools to the final cementation appointment and adjust and fine tune the color. I mentioned this to my dentist and he said that it is only necessary when trying to match 1 tooth.

I think it is customary to have a few try ins to make sure the patient and dentist are satisfied. I am so distraught and now regret ever doing this. I wrote a letter to the dentist explaining my disappointment and have a follow up tomorrow. The good thing is that I have not paid yet.

So, do I have him redo or do I try and find someone else who is more experienced at veneers? Also, photos are very deceiving so I am not going to post any at this time. I have noticed that veneers look very good in photos and do not show the flaws and lack of translucency.

Will update after my follow up appointment.

My gums have continued to be irritated, puffy and swollen and the Periodontist and Dentist agree that the biologic width was compromised. The Periodontist wants to wait a couple of months to see if the problem will resolve itself. I honestly do not think this issue will resolve itself. The Periodontist said that more gum surgery will probably have to be done. This will delay the entire veneer process for several more months. My gums still feel very uncomfortable and I am going to get another opinion. The problem is that I do not know of anyone in my area that does excellent veneers.

I am still terribly disappointed in the color, look, size and fit of the veneers besides all of the gum problems. This whole experience has been very depressing and a nightmare. My dentist is reluctantly willing to re-do the veneers but keeps making excuses saying that the lab matched the veneers to the temporaries. This is untrue because my husband was in the room while the tech matched the veneers to the back teeth not the temporaries. My dentist suggested just redoing the back veneers to match the natural teeth. I am unwilling to settle for any compromises! I stated clearly that I want them all redone!

I have been studying people's teeth and notice that most veneers look very fake, too large, bulky, too yellow or too white. I really had high hopes that my expensive dentist and the Da Vinci lab would give me natural beautiful results. What a huge disappointment. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have not paid the dentist yet and will not give him a dime until this is done properly. In fact, he may never be paid, because I am considering using someone else to redo the veneers.