My dentist gave me a complete smile makeover with veneer crowns. When the permanent ones were placed in, two of them had sharp pains. The dentist adjusted them about 3 times and eventually the pain went away. However, not long after those same teeth developed abscesses on the top of them. He did some x-rays and said that the nerves died and those teeth need a root canal treatment. I was a bit shocked because he never mentioned nerve damage as a possibility. He said he didn’t know why it happened and I’m just unlucky when it comes to this. Since then, three more teeth have needed root canal treatments and two more teeth are starting to hurt. I feel like each of these teeth are going to “fail” at some time. I also feel like I’ve been taken advantage of. Is there anything I can do about this?

Miranda

Dear Miranda,

I am going to start by clarifying some terms because there is something that has me concerned you were misled. You mentioned you received a smile makeover with veneer crowns. That is not a thing. There are porcelain crowns and there are porcelain veneers. The two of these are very different procedures. You can see that even from the type of tooth preparation necessary.

Notice in the image above, on the left side there is a LOT of tooth preparation. This is what happens when your teeth are given dental crowns. On the right, is the preparation for porcelain veneers. I believe you were given crowns for a couple of reasons. First, it is pretty much unheard of for someone to need a root canal treatment as a result of porcelain veneers. Second, you said something about the permanent ones. It is dental crowns which start with temporaries and then go to permanent. However, there are times you’re given a mock up of your porcelain veneers and allowed to try them in to see if that is what you were wanting for your smile makeover.

A smile makeover does not require the aggressive grinding down of the teeth. That is why porcelain veneers are the standard. With dental crowns, if there is too aggressive a tooth preparation the dentist risks exposing the pulp. This is what I think your dentist did. Many dentists who did not invest in post-doctoral training will do porcelain crowns instead of veneers because it is what they are more familiar with. If your dentist lied to you and hinted you were getting veneers, then you need to demand a refund as well as for him to cover the cost of the root canal treatments. If he didn’t say you were getting porcelain veneers and you just assumed that, you can still ask him to cover the root canal treatments because he is the one who ground down your teeth too aggressively.

I’m sorry you are dealing with this. For those reading this considering a smile makeover, it is always better to have a smile makeover done by someone with the right training. I would recommend you use a dentist who is AACD accredited.

This blog is brought to you by Philadelphia Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Michael Weiss.