Horrible Experience With Veneers

I had very small teeth with a very gummy smile. After years of hating my smile, I decided to have crown lengthening surgery followed by 6 upper veneers. My dentist was excellent and showed me photos of veneer cases so I trusted that he would do a great job. Everything went smoothly until it came time for the final cementing of the veneers. I asked to see the veneers before they were placed permanently. I wanted to check the size, color and shape and make sure I was happy. The dentist ignored my request, layed them on for 2 seconds and I got to glance, but couldn't really tell how they looked. I was completely upset and distraught at the appearance, color, size and fit of the final veneers!!! They were fake looking and several shades lighter than my other teeth even though I went to the lab for custom color match. Two weeks later, my gums became very inflammed and swollen and it was determined that the biologic width was compromised causing the irritation. The only positive thing was that my dentist did not charge me and reluctantly offered to re-do the veneers. I decided that I would seek out a new dentist to re-do the veneers.


I found a new dentist who showed me several cases that looked great. I also spoke to a past patient who was totally satisfied with her veneer re-do. I was totally confident that the new dentist would do an excellent job. I had to endure the old veneer removal, a revision on the Peridontal surgery, wait 3 months for the bone and tissue to heal, wear temporaries for 3 months and after several office visits, photos, models, and wax ups, I was ready the final veneers. After my past complaints, I assumed that the compassionate dentist was going to use the try in paste to let me see the veneers before permanently cementing. No, he did the same exact thing as the first dentist. He laid them on for 2 seconds and just started cementing them. The final result was that the size, look and shape were great, but the color again was too light, very opaque and fake looking. Even worse, was that on both lateral incisors, there are now huge black triangle gaps. I was totally dissappointed and mentioned my concerns, but he said that my gums were irritated and red from the placement and this affected the color. Also, he said that the gum tissue would grow in and fill in the gaps. I highly doubt that the gaps will fill in. I have now spent 1 year dealing with this and $19,000 on the gum surgery and veneers and am totally devastated!!!


My advice to anyone who is thinking about veneers to not do it!! I should have just lived with my teeth the way they were. I wanted a natural look, not a fake white Hollywood smile. I didn't want people to notice that I had veneers, but just think I had a beautiful smile with normal sized teeth. I have now become a veneer expert and can spot people with veneers. I admit that most veneers look bulky and fake, either too yellow, too grey, too one color, or too white. One last comment, veneers look very good in photos, but look very different in person. In photos, veneers can look very natural, but in real life, they look very fake.

I have had bonded veneers done with composite white filling stuff and am getting them redone in 10 days,teeth look great and very natural but maybe they don't do that in US,I'm in Australia.You are talking about porcelain veneers I presume?

Needles, dentists will do the composite type 'veneers' in the UK.
My top front teeth were decaying and chipped and my dentist built them up with composite type filling. They are not as long lasting as a veneer would be but the result is very natural looking. The dentist does need to be patient and skilled to do this work though.
The good thing about this kind of treatment is that the teeth don't need to be prepared in the same way as veneers. With veneers the front surface of the tooth needs to be taken off - the composite just needed (from memory - correct me if I'm wrong) a chemical brushed on.

Coolin

I would like to say a few things about veneers. I have placed veneers for over 25 years now and I was not able to make the patient happy.
Why is this so? The absolute most important thing for the dentist to do is have a long conversation with the patient prior to any treatment. The dentist and patient must come to an excellent understanding of the desired outcome before the case begins. Some patients want that white and bright look while most just want a natural appearance lighter in shade than they already have while others just want things to match.
I have done all of the above cases. Properly done veneers are more difficult to do than crowns. I Have also seen many that are overbulked and fake in appearance.