Archive for October, 2009

Is there any hope for a beautiful smile after radiation therapy?

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

I am a breast cancer survivor who before radiation therapy had a beautiful smile. Since that time my confidence is awful….I am so happy to be cancer free but I NEVER feel comfortable smiling anymore. It has changed my personality. My teeth are thin, weak and nearly transparent from the radiation.  As a mother of 6 with three in college, cost is an issue. I am also a  musical entertainer so I need to have a beautiful smile. I’m always aware that my smile is not what it used to be. I smile with a closed mouth and when I am singing, I try to hide behind the microphone. It’s really bad. I hope you can help me.  This would be life changing if it worked and was affordable.                                                       – Vivian in Florida

Vivian,
Yes, you can have your beautiful smile back. However, I worry that you will just price-shop for dentists and then have this done by the cheapest one, which is a recipe for disaster.
 
Not many dentists have the artistic ability to create a beautiful smile, and the ones that can are not  the cheapest ones. The continuing education required for training in cosmetic dentistry takes money, time, travel and resources. The dental laboratories that create beautiful porcelain veneers are expensive, and the materials they use are also expensive.
 
However, just because someone is expensive doesn’t mean they will do a great job. There is a range of costs of cosmetic dentistry, and some great cosmetic dentists are less expensive than others.  Duluth dentist  Dr. Gregory Kaake is a great example of this. He is able to offer the same high quality services as big city dentists, but his fees are considerably lower. He is the mynewsmile network recommended dentist in Duluth. The dentists on our mynewsmile network have been carefully screened and have all been able to produce photos of their beautiful work. To start your search, look at our list of Florida and surrounding-area cosmetic dentists. Give them a call  and ask over the phone if they are willing to tell you their fee per tooth for porcelain veneers. Once you know what costs you are looking at, save up your money until you have enough to get it done right the first time by one of these artistic cosmetic dentists. The price probably ranges from $1000 to $2500 per tooth. Please don’t try to have it be cheaper than that or you’ll end up having to spend more because you’ll want to re-do it as soon as it’s done. Good luck!

Related links: Read about Dr. Kaake’s pricing on porcelain veneers.

Posted in Choosing a Dentist, Porcelain Veneers | Comments Off

Will Lumineers keep me from playing the clarinet?

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Will Lumineers or porcelain veneers get in the way of my playing the clarinet or saxophone?
- Toomer from Georgia

Toomer,
If Lumineers are placed the way they are often advertised, they could interfere with playing an instrument. Often they are just bonded onto the top of the tooth, making the tooth thicker and about 2 mm longer. This can interfere with speech or playing an instrument.

The way we usually do porcelain veneers, however, it wouldn’t affect playing an instrument. We usually shave a little (0.5 mm – about the thickness of a fingernail) from the front of the tooth before bonding the porcelain veneer on. This helps preserve the natural contours of the teeth and keeps them to a normal length. If there does need to be a change in the length of the teeth, we try the change with temporary veneers first to make sure that they don’t interfere with speech or playing an instrument, if that’s what you do.

Posted in Porcelain Veneers | Comments Off

Should I go to the dental school?

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

I need some extensive dental work done and was thinking about going to a dental school to have it done, and maybe some porcelain veneers. But everyone says not to go to a dental school because they are still learning and the job may not get done right. What do you think?

Mae from Washington, DC

Mae,

It’s not true that your dental work wouldn’t get done “right” at a dental school. While the students are learning, they know enough to do your fillings and other basic dental work properly, and there is a certain assurance that you have because they always work under the supervision of a faculty member.

However, when you get into appearance-related dentistry, a dental school is the last place you would want to go. And it’s not a matter of lack of ability, but the mind-set that exists at dental schools. They are teaching basic dentistry to students, and they feel they don’t have time to get into cosmetic dentistry, and there is even a pervasive attitude that appearance-related dentistry is trivial, and that it involves pandering to the patient. Very few dentists are artistic, but it is even rarer to find a dental school faculty member that has any artistic appreciation for good cosmetic dentistry.

My advice is that if you’re short of money and have the time to spend (because of inherent inefficiency, the lack of dental assisting personnel, the slow pace at which students work, and the waiting for “checks” from the instructor, getting treated at a dental school requires many times the amount of time as treatment by a private practice dentist) go ahead and get your basic dental repair done at the dental school. But if you don’t have the money for the porcelain veneers from a good cosmetic dentist, just put that off until you do. Why pay even a discounted rate for cosmetic dentistry that simply doesn’t look good? What’s the point?

Related links:
Read about Duluth zoom whitening, and read what Dr. Kaake has to say about Lumineers.

Posted in Choosing a Dentist | Comments Off