I had dental bonding done several years ago by a different dentist. I have since moved. The bonding was to repair a chipped tooth and is now starting to show its age. It is one color and my teeth another. I just needed it redone to match my teeth, but my new dentist made things worse. The bonding is the wrong color–way too white. There is so much texture on there is looks like it was a spackle painting and the tooth with the bonding is now longer than the tooth next to it. When I told her I was displeased, all she said is it looks better than it did. Can I demand she do this again and get it right?
Lindsey
Dear Lindsey,
You can demand that and she may do it again, but I would not hold out much hope she will actually get it right. What you are dealing with is a dentist who does not have enough experience with cosmetic dentistry.
These skills are not taught in dental school, nor is it a recognized specialty. Because of that, a dentist has to invest in post-doctoral training to learn how to do it right. It doesn’t sound like your new dentist has really tried to improve her skills.
In your place, I would simply ask for a refund and then get it redone by someone who knows what they’re doing. If it looks as bad as you described, you won’t have a hard time getting a true cosmetic dentist on your side to help you secure that refund if she refuses.
On that topic, when you are looking for another dentist to fix this make sure you look at their smile galleries, specifically their dental bonding cases to be certain they get good results. If they don’t have a smile gallery, they do not do enough cosmetic dentistry so look for someone else.
This blog is brought to you by Baton Rouge Dentist Dr. Steven Collins.