Veneer Story List of Dentists

Porcelain Veneers a True Story - History of a Young Mans Dental Experience

The following is a true story about porcelain veneers positively affecting a young executives life. Prior to receiving veneers, his lifetime dental experience will be told. The names have been changed to protect the patients identity. As with any cosmetic dentistry treatment there are many emotional responses before, during and after the veneers are placed. Many emotions relating to dental care develop at an early age and affect us through our adult life.

A True Dental Story

" When I was about 11 years old I had a terrible experience with a dentist. I had been playing in the school gymnasium with the other kids and we were playing tag. One of the other kids tagged me and I accidentally fell face first into the climbers and broke my front teeth. I was experiencing incredible pain as much of my tooth structure had broken off. My regular dentist was unavailable to see me at the time so I was referred to another dentist to handle my emergency. My mother came to the school and drove me to this emergency dentist. I was in extreme pain as my teeth were already sensitive to begin with and now they had broken off.

I was crying because of the tooth pain and the doctor started to yell at me and tell me it didn't hurt, he even told me to shutup. This was really traumatic to hear this from someone I have gone to for help. Even as young as I was I knew how to handle pain from playing contact sports and this dental pain was severe. To make a long story short this dentist fixed my teeth and I left feeling like I had inconvenienced him and rememeber him yelling at me. From that time on I was terrified of the dentist, even going to my regular dentist, the smells, the sounds, the needles and the scraping of teeth drove me crazy. I really only went to the dentist when it was too late. I brushed regulary but was very afraid of the dentist.

As I grew older and entered high school, I become more aware about my appearance and had some crooked teeth that weren't perfectly straight and most of my friends had straight white teeth. I sometimes talked to people and put my hand in front of my mouth. I smiled lots because I was a happy kid but I really was aware of my imperfect teeth. When I was about 17 years old, I got braces from my best friends father. He was an oral surgeon that also did orthodontic work and gave my parents a great break on the price. The braces straightened my teeth in about 2 years. I even wore them during my first semester in college.

The braces were removed when I was 19. My teeth were straight and I was given a clear plastic retainer to keep my teeth from shifting. This made my teeth look much better however on a trip to Mexico when I was 21, the housekeeper stole my retainer. I don't know why, it was custom for my teeth. Anyhow, I returned home and did not get a replacement retainer. My teeth shifted a little bit, but that was okay because they were much straighter than they were before.

My confidence started to grow, dated lots of girls and really had no smile insecurities like before. I still neglected to visit the dentist on a regular basis unless I had a problem and that usually meant cavities needed to be filled. I still have some of those amalgam fillings today.

I was always into fitness, playing sports and staying very active and along the way in my 20's I had some instances where I chipped my teeth everything from tipping a beer bottle to my mouth once and accidentally being bumped and chipping the front to playing paintball and ducking a bullet and chipping more teeth. I still smiled big.

So just into my early thirties my dental care was status quo and one day I was working out at the local gym and out of the blue one of those old silver amalgam fillings fell out. It was awful, I could taste the mercury in my mouth from the leakage and the worst part. I knew I had to go to see the dreaded dentist, except one problem. I hadn't been to one in 5 years so I didn't know where to turn. My regular dentist wasn't in my opinion a preferred option. So I asked a few friends and got a surprising referral. His dentist was one of my friends from the 5th grade that I hadn't talked to in about 20 years and he was a cosmetic dentist. I went in to see him and caught up, it was amazing because I immediately felt comfortable and had now dental fear because it was someone I felt I had known for years even though 20 years had passed. He relaced my broken silver filling with a white filling, it looked far more aesthetic.

About 6 months passed and I actually scheduled a cleaning, amazing since most of my life I was terrified of the dentist. This time I didn't even think about it. Some people today that are dental phobic visit with a sedation dentist for sedation dentistry. Around the time of this cleaning the Extreme Makeover boom started and I was becoming more aware about cosmetic dentistry and specifically porcelain veneers. I had watched a few episodes and watched Dr. Bill Dorfman from the show change some smiles with porcelain veneers from Da Vinci Lab. His work was amazing.

When I went in for my cleaning, my childhood friend asked me if I would like to fix my front teeth with veneers. He showed me some incredible before and after photos and I don't know what I was thinking but I just said, "Sure lets go for it!" Hadn't really planned for it but I decided that I would like a smile like I had seen in the photos. Perfect white smiles, every one of them.

We booked my first appointment where the dentist prepares my teeth for veneers. I must I had the butterflys a little more during this visit. I was given some shots to numb my mouth and the dentist began to prepare my teeth my shaving down some of my natural tooth structure to make room for the porcelainveneers to fit naturally. I was getting 8 front arch veneers and the time was about 2 1/2 hours to 3 hours to finish the prep.

After the prep was finished the dentist took an impression of my shaved down teeth and on the spot made some temporary teeth to wear home. They looked pretty good and were one whole bridge so I couldn't floss in between. My girlfriend at the time didn't want me to do it because she thought I would lose my natural character because my chipped teeth etc. were me. Maybe she was right but I decided I wanted this done so I went ahead and I was glad I did.

I did experience some sensitivity while wearing the temporaries but I just took some advil to help ease the sensitivity. About 1 week later I came back in because my veneers had come back from the dental lab and were ready to be cemented. I came in and was shown the veneers on a mold of my teeth and they looked great. Nice and symetrical, white and perfectly straight. The dentist removed my temporararies and began to prepare my teeth for the final cementation of the porcelain veneers. They were Empress 3 veneers to be exact. 1M1 I belive was the shade. You get to pick the shade of white you want.

He cemented in the veneers and in about 2 1/2 to three hours the dentist handed me the mirror just like they do in the makeover shows and voila, I had a smile that I couldn't stop staring at. Driving home I stared in the rear view mirror almost the whole way.

Since having porcelain veneers, I get compliments on my smile everywhere I go. "wow your teeth are so white, do you use whitestrips?" I chuckle and sometimes I say yes and sometimes I tell them know I got porcelain veneers, you know, like what they do on Extreme Makeover. My confidence has definitely increased especially when it comes to smiling. I smile big a bright and show my new pearly whites. I drink Starbucks coffee regularly and guess what, they don't stain. Veneers are resistant to staining.

Now if there are any single guys out there, the ladies love em. Just smile and you don't even have to talk. I never realized how people look at your teeth until I got veneers because now I always get compliments. Its been about four years now and no problems whatsover. I owe that to my cosmetic dentist. He had lots of experience at the time and showed me lots of his his own porcelain veneer cases.

If anyone if searching for a solution to a troubled smile and want a quick result. Porcelain veneers worked for me and they could work for you. As always consult with at least a few cosmetic dentists. Porcelain veneers are great and now I love going to the dentist for my regular cleanings"

Anonymous