Expensive dental crowns color match is way off

[TheGITM]

Originally Posted by LiveMusic

And I do not know if this dentist has much experience at bleaching or anything cosmetic. His practice is in a nearby blue collar town.

As for veneers, I just googled it and it said $800 to $1800 per tooth. That is as much as a crown.

This certainly jumped out at me. When I had my work done I did it through a place that specializes in cosmetic dentistry. I realize that not everyone has that option, but my guy worked out of the same office building I worked in so it was very convenient. I realize that's not always an option for folks.

This may be a case where you have a really good dentist that does mostly family dentistry. That's not really a 'good excuse', but it puts things in a little different context.

Regardless, I agree that they should have done a better job. They should have either made you aware that there might be issues with color-matching, or they should have realized that the crowns they got in did not match and corrected the issue before the procedure.

Quick little side story... I had a veneer pop off one Saturday while biting into a carrot. I went to little dentist office near where I live that was open on Saturday to have them reattach it. The dentist came in to take a look. He cleaned the surface and did a little poking and prodding, then turned it over to his assistant and left.

The assistant was left to reseat and seal the veneer. While she was doing it, she indicated that it may not hold well and suggested that I look into getting a crown to replace it. On the way out I got info on a crown.

Sure enough, about 2 weeks later the veneer popped off again. This was during the week so I went to my cosmetic dentist in my office building and told him what had happened. His face flashed anger. He told me straight-up that it was likely they intentionally did a weak reset to get me to buy a crown. He reseated and sealed the veneer and said I shouldn't have any more issues.

That was over 10 years ago and not a problem since. There are shady practices out there so you need to be diligent.

[LiveMusic]

Originally Posted by TheGITM

This certainly jumped out at me. When I had my work done I did it through a place that specializes in cosmetic dentistry. I realize that not everyone has that option, but my guy worked out of the same office building I worked in so it was very convenient. I realize that's not always an option for folks.

This may be a case where you have a really good dentist that does mostly family dentistry. That's not really a 'good excuse', but it puts things in a little different context.

Regardless, I agree that they should have done a better job. They should have either made you aware that there might be issues with color-matching, or they should have realized that the crowns they got in did not match and corrected the issue before the procedure...

I agree with you. My issue is that this color-match thing was SO important here because it's the front four bottom teeth! Seems to me that I might be more thorough than many people with pretty much anything I do, but I thought that they could have done a much better job with this so easily! In my mind, I came up with a procedure that I thought they could/should have followed. Pretty much all of it has been suggested by others in this thread, as well.

I am going to talk to him and I hope this can be resolved. Somehow.

@srick, if you have a feel for how much the 4-crown bridge cost the dentist, please advise. Thanks for your other info.

[srick]

Originally Posted by LiveMusic

@srick, if you have a feel for how much the 4-crown bridge cost the dentist, please advise. Thanks for your other info.

Bill - the amount he paid is ridiculously variable depending on the material used and the type of lab. But IMO, it is moot because he should stand behind his work.

Interesting that it’s your four lower front teeth. So is it the remaining lower teeth that look too dark, does it not match the top teeth, or both?

[LiveMusic]

Originally Posted by srick

Bill - the amount he paid is ridiculously variable depending on the material used and the type of lab. But IMO, it is moot because he should stand behind his work.

Interesting that it’s your four lower front teeth. So is it the remaining lower teeth that look too dark, does it not match the top teeth, or both?

So, something I mentioned in this thread... are there various degrees of crowns? Low-priced, mid-price, expensive? Such that the quality varies? These do not look "high quality," they not only look too white, they look too opaque, if that makes any sense.

These front four are 23-26, if I have my numbers correct. The front-most bottom teeth. I have a crown on the top that is over 20 years old, one of the two front teeth, are those 8-9? If so, it is 8 if that is the one on the right. No. 27 is a broken tooth, it really needs a crown, as there is a bad gap there. If I ever get that crowned, it'll need proper color match, lol.

No. 21 and No. 22 are pretty glaringly not color-matched, those teeth are next to the bridge on my left side.

Back to the top. No. 8 has a crown and it's not as bad a match as my natural teeth because my own teeth have darkened since 20-odd years ago. I mentioned to the dentist early on in this repair job that I might need to get that tooth a do-over because the color is too far off now.

Could a lot of people live with this? I would bet that they could. But I am not most people, I do care about what I look like, lol, and, as a musician (singer-songwriter dude), I converse with the public face to face. And... it took me a LONG time, years, to finally get this fixed and its costs lots and now this!

Maybe I can take a pic.

[srick]

Originally Posted by LiveMusic

So, something I mentioned in this thread... are there various degrees of crowns? Low-priced, mid-price, expensive? Such that the quality varies? These do not look "high quality," they not only look too white, they look too opaque, if that makes any sense.

That makes plenty of sense. All ceramic zirconia crowns and bridges have that issue when there is not enough space to overlay modifying colors of porcelain (almost like a contact lens) The lower front teeth are the smallest in the mouth and there is very little room for extra layers. The zirconia itself is very opaque and bright.

There aren’t a lot of options when it comes to materials here, either.Older materials like porcelain fused to metal bridges can be characterized far better, but their downside, is that sometimes the underlying metal framework is visible. I could pretty much guarantee that with those materials, the tongue side would be a silvery colored metal. So pick your poison- no metal, but opaque, or metal framework and better color. No doubt about it, getting the lower front teeth just right is a big challenge because there is not enough space to achieve a good esthetic result.

Believe it not, a few weeks wear may actually improve the appearance since the lower front teeth are more prone to staining and tartar buildup. If you smoke cigarettes (I hope not) they will create the stains very quickly. Also, tea and coffee brewed with a mesh filter are good at staining.

Go see what the doc says first.

Best,

Rick

[buddyhu]

Regardless of what steps you might eventually take, talking to your dentist (in a civil, calm, respectful, but direct way) is the necessary next step. If you complain to a licensing board or professional organization before interacting with your dentist and seeing if he might offer an acceptable solution, you will not get much traction. Consulting a lawyer before making several efforts to work with your dentist would be a waste of time and money.

Don’t be a hothead who will be dismissed or exploited by others. Try to work it out with the dentist (ideally, by meeting in person). If that doesn’t work, you will still have those other options available to you.

[Talk2Me]

Originally Posted by buddyhu

Regardless of what steps you might eventually take, talking to your dentist (in a civil, calm, respectful, but direct way) is the necessary next step. If you complain to a licensing board or professional organization before interacting with your dentist and seeing if he might offer an acceptable solution, you will not get much traction. Consulting a lawyer before making several efforts to work with your dentist would be a waste of time and money.

Don’t be a hothead who will be dismissed or exploited by others. Try to work it out with the dentist (ideally, by meeting in person). If that doesn’t work, you will still have those other options available to you.

All of this^^.

[LiveMusic]

As for "don't be a hothead" warnings, that is not my style at all. I vented here because I was upset that I am now in this position and it was unnecessary. And, as stated, this could be a lab error.

Good news is that the nurse just called and said she conferred with the dentist and he wants me to come in and they will do impressions and make me some trays and give me the bleach at no charge and try this first. And if it doesn't work, will have to cut this bridge out and install another. (The latter statement, she did not follow that up with "at no charge," so, I don't know how that stands if we have to go that route.) First, I will get the bleach. And show them what I am talking about. And hope for the best.

[Bob Womack]

I'm glad there is some forward motion and I applaud you not immediately going the legal route. Sometimes you get more flies with honey than vinegar.

I've got a tooth situation you might be interested in: As a toddler I had scarlet fever. The doctors used tetracycline to kill the infection which turned my teeth yellow. At the same time, the fever divided the colors of the tooth into gentle, horizontal striations, like the stone walls of the Grand Canyon.


Try matching that!

Bob

[buddyhu]

Originally Posted by LiveMusic

As for "don't be a hothead" warnings, that is not my style at all. I vented here because I was upset that I am now in this position and it was unnecessary. And, as stated, this could be a lab error.

Good news is that the nurse just called and said she conferred with the dentist and he wants me to come in and they will do impressions and make me some trays and give me the bleach at no charge and try this first. And if it doesn't work, will have to cut this bridge out and install another. (The latter statement, she did not follow that up with "at no charge," so, I don't know how that stands if we have to go that route.) First, I will get the bleach. And show them what I am talking about. And hope for the best.

I got that. But you were getting advice to act like a hothead. Maybe I should have said, “Don’t take advice that encourages you to act like a hothead.” Sorry if I ruffled feathers.

Regardless, glad that there is a no cost solution being offered by your dentist, and I hope it works. If it doesn’t work to your satisfaction, it is still an encouraging development that you aren’t being stonewalled.