I wish I’d been born 30 years later than I was! There are so many marvelous advancements everywhere that life would have been so much easier. One of those is with my stinking dentures. I hate them. Passionately. Now I hear they have dental implants which are like having real teeth. They don’t move or slip out. Am I too old to get those and dump my dentures?
Eugenia
Dear Eugenia,
Too Old for Dental Implants?
I have a feeling you’re quite the spitfire. Just so you know, you’re not the only dental patient who’d like to dump their dentures. You’re definitely not too old to do it. However, there may be one procedure you’d need first before going forward.
You mentioned your dentures slip and even come out. That’s due to the length of time you’ve had dentures. You’re suffering from what’s known as facial collapse. Your body reabsorbs the minerals in your jawbone after your teeth are gone to use elsewhere throughout your body. That has the unfortunate side effect of shrinking your jawbone.
Without enough bone structure, there will be nowhere to anchor the dental implants. Don’t despair, though. A simple procedure called bone grafting can build back up the bone in your jaw. This will give you the support you need to retain the implants.
With dental implants, you’ll be able to eat what you want without anything getting underneath your dentures. You’ll never have to worry about them slipping, AND you’ll look even younger with your jaw built back up. How’s that for a plus?
Which Dentist Should Do Your Implants?
Before you jump into this, be very careful in choosing what dentist you choose to do the dental implant procedure. Make sure they have lots of experience and a high success rate. You’ll want a success rate of at least 98%.
Here’s how it will work. First, you’ll get the bone grafting done, which is a one-day procedure. After you’ve healed from that, it’s time for the dental implant surgery. Once you’re healed from the surgery, then your dentist will place your overdentures which attach to the implants.
Let us know if you get it done and send us a picture of your new smile.
This blog is brought to you by Drs. Kevin and Hillary Peck.
I’ve been saving for Lumineers for ages. Now that I’ve finally got the money, my dentist doesn’t want to place them. He said Lumineers will make my smile look bulky. I picked those because he won’t have to grind my teeth down and now he wants to grind my teeth. Should I let him or go to a different dentist who’ll do what I want?
Marcy
Dear Marcy,
The thing Lumineers is best at is marketing. They’ve pushed their no-prep line so far that patients are afraid to have another brand of porcelain veneers. Truthfully, all Lumineers are is a brand. They’re not even the best brand.
While some patients look fine without any tooth preparation at all, most end up with a bulky looking smile. Some have described it as having horse teeth. That’s probably not the look you’re going for.
The type of tooth preparation needed for porcelain veneers doesn’t actually grind down your teeth. That’s only necessary for porcelain crowns. Because porcelain crowns cover your entire tooth, including the back and sides, a large amount of tooth structure has to be removed to make room for it.
Porcelain veneers are different. They are very thin and only go on the front of your tooth. For those who need tooth preparation, the dentist only needs to remove only about the depth of a fingernail. You can’t even tell that much has been removed.
Getting a Gorgeous Smile Makeover with Lumineers
Not many expert cosmetic dentists like the Lumineers brand. A lot of that has more to do with the company’s insistence that dentists use their lab. Their lab doesn’t have the best track record for creating gorgeous results.
You don’t want it to look like you’ve got veneers on. You want it to look like you have a naturally gorgeous smile. Because your dentist is warning you that you’ll end up with bulky results, I would say he’s trying to look out for you and give you the best smile possible.
You can insist he give you the Lumineers, sans tooth prep. He may relent and do it. But, I think you’ll regret that decision in the end.
Why don’t you try this? Tell him to go ahead with the brand of porcelain veneers he wants, but you want to see them on with a try-in paste before he permanently bonds them. If you don’t like them, then he has to do the brand you want.
He’ll probably be more willing to do that.
Also, remember, you don’t have to have them placed on your upper and lower arches. Make sure you just whiten the lower arch to match the color of the upper arch. That saves patients a ton of money.
This blog is brought to you by Drs. Kevin and Hillary Peck.
My mom is almost 87. She recently had to have a filling and then later that day when I went to check on her two teeth just fell out. Her dentist never even mentioned they were a problem. I can’t just leave her that way. She needs to replace them, but I don’t know if a bridge is a good idea at her age. Maybe her other teeth are too old? What would be an affordable solution for her?
Bridgett
Dear Bridgett,
I need to say up front it sounds like your mother needs a different dentist. If she has teeth just falling out from no obvious issue, it means she has an advanced periodontal disease. He should be checking her gums at her regular check-ups and warning her about the state of her gums. There are steps which can be taken to treat gum disease.
If I’m right and she has gum disease a dental bridge is out of the question. It will just pull out the remaining teeth it’s attached to. Ideally, you’d replace missing teeth with dental implants, but that’s also out of the question with gum disease. Plus, you asked for an affordable solution. Dental implants can cost upwards of $40,000.
Normally, I wouldn’t recommend dentures because of their complications with bone resorption. However, your mother is 87. I don’t think that’s going to be an issue for her. It usually takes between 10 and 20 years for it to become a problem. Now, if your family has a history of centenarians, you may reconsider. But most don’t.
If you go to another dentist who thinks he can save quite a bit of her teeth, please do that. You don’t have to lose all your teeth to get dentures. There is something called a Cu-Sil partial (pictured directly above). It will leave holes for her healthy teeth. It uses little rubber rings to keep it secure to her teeth. It actually makes it more stable. Then, if the tooth is lost in the future, it’s simply a matter of closing up the hole and adding another false tooth.
Affordable Dentists Will Work with You
Most patients, especially elderly ones, don’t have the funds to just pay for large procedures outright. However, most dentists are willing to work with patients giving them payment plans. If you can’t find a dentist like that. Sign your mother up for Care Credit. It’s a medical credit card of sorts, which will allow her to pay off her treatments slowly. In fact, depending on the state of her credit, she can even get 0% interest as she pays it off. They also have no penalty for early repayment, so it’s a win-win situation.
This blog is brought to you by Drs. Kevin and Hillary Peck.
I don’t know what is going on with my son’s teeth. His top two teeth are turning dark. The rest of them are okay. Can a pediatric dentist whiten them?
Laura
Dear Laura,
If just his front teeth are turning dark and not the others, it’s not a staining issue. Is it possible your son has suffered some trauma to those teeth recently? Could he have been hit in the mouth with something?
When a tooth is turning dark it means the tooth is either dead or dying. He’ll need a root canal treatment. You didn’t mention how old he is so depending on his age a pulpotomy might be more appropriate. It’s like a root canal for children.
You’ll need to see your pediatric dentist and have his tooth evaluated. It’s important to figure out if there’s any other damage. If he still has adult teeth underneath you’ll need to make sure they aren’t damaged as well.
Teeth Whitening and Pediatrics
Professional teeth whitening only works on natural tooth structure that has been stained. It doesn’t work on dead teeth. It also won’t work on any dental work that’s been done, such as fillings or crowns.
Most children don’t need any whitening because regular brushing keeps their teeth white. It’s us old folks who’ve accumulated years of stains on their teeth from things like coffee or tea, cigarettes, staining foods, etc.
There are some medicines which can stain teeth. Tetracycline is the worst of these. In those cases, then some cosmetic work may be warranted.
I’m assuming you’re son is under the regular care of a pediatric or family dentist. Please don’t put off getting this looked at. The last thing you want is for this to turn into a dental emergency. Not only are they dangerous and can turn life-threatening, but it’s important children have positive dental experiences. We want pleasant instead of painful memories of their dental care.
This blog is brought to you by Drs. Kevin and Hillary Peck.
I don’t know what’s going on. My dentist insists my son’s sealants are on, but I don’t think they’re working. My son’s teeth look horrible. Will the sealants keep whitening from working? His teeth look so brown to me. He brushes. I’ve even started watching him to check, which really annoys him.
Kathy
Dear Kathy,
I wanted to go over dental sealants with you because there seems to be a miscommunication somewhere either between you and your pediatric dentist, or possibly I’m not understanding what you’ve written. Sealants are meant to go on children’s back molars. Those have deep grooves in them which are nearly impossible for them to get clean. Because of that, we’ll place sealants on them which keep things from getting down in there. They don’t cover their front teeth in any way.
The makeup of baby and adult teeth are slightly different. With baby teeth, the enamel over the dentin is not translucent which makes their teeth look brighter and whiter. Adult teeth are very translucent which can show more of the dentin underneath. That has a yellowish color. If your comparing the color of his adult teeth to his baby teeth, the newer teeth will look less attractive in comparison.
When Children’s Teeth Look Dark
Children’s bodies and dental health are as varied as their personalities. It sounds like you’ve been monitoring his brushing and he’s doing that fine. Have you noticed if he intakes and staining beverages or foods? While most children don’t drink coffee, I’m often surprised how many of them drink iced tea. That can make someone’s smile brown looking quickly.
There are also certain spices which stain your teeth as well. If you’ve checked all these obvious culprits, the next thing to do is look into medication he may be (or have) taken. For instance, certain vitamins and antibiotics stain teeth. Tetracycline stains are some of the worst teeth stains to deal with. Not even teeth whitening makes much headway with them.
Another possibility is that your son has thin enamel, which will reveal more of the dentin. There are steps that can be taken to help that. Have a good talk with your pediatric dentist to get to the bottom of his coloring. If he or she doesn’t know what to do, try a cosmetic dentist that enjoys treating children.
I hadn’t been to a dentist in years for financial reasons. I started to get worried about my oral health, not because of any specific issues, but it’s just been in the back of my mind. I did an internet search for affordable dentists and found two in my immediate area. I’ve been to both of them. They were both awful. The first one was just plain smelly. I don’t know why. It’s like he just didn’t care about bathing. I could barely stand to stay in the chair because of them smell. I know he said I needed some work. I expected that. But, I can’t remember anything he said because I just wanted out of there. I don’t think I could go back to him if it was free. The next one at least cared about personal hygiene. He was a bit rough in how he handles patients. He told me I have a tooth that could go any minute. I could try to save it with a root canal and crown or I can just extract and replace it. I tried to ask him some questions but he said he doesn’t have time to answer patients. I can call the office and leave a message and one of the hygienists will get back with me. On the way out I told the desk lady I didn’t understand why he doesn’t answer patient questions. She said if I want low prices he needs to keep people moving so he can make up profit losses. Is it possible to get quality service by a dentist who cares AND affordable prices? Please don’t make me go back to Mr. Stinky.
Elaina
Dear Elaina,
Cheap does not always equal affordable.
It’s great that you’re working so hard to find a dentist which you can afford. It’s a shame your choices have been so limited. It doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find one, though you may have to go outside of your immediate area if those were the two closest choices.
Reasons Dentists Choose to Have Affordable Prices
There are several reasons dentists may choose to have prices that are lower than the average around them. Some of those motives are better than others, as you’ve unfortunately experienced.
To Draw in Patients
This isn’t a bad motive (in some cases). It mostly depends on why they need to draw in patients. Sometimes it is simply a matter of being a brand new practice. They haven’t had time to develop a patient base. We’ve all had to start somewhere. However, other times a dentist isn’t that great. They need to draw in patients because they have horrible patient retention. The only way to keep their income going is to lower their prices and draw in new victims.
Compassion
Other dentists simply know that every human being is working at a different budgetary level. They don’t want the working poor to be without dental care simply because their current job salary or life circumstances make affording those types of things feel like a luxury. Many of them have been in difficult circumstances before and still remember what it felt like.
Their quality doesn’t suffer from their compassion. Often you won’t find them the absolute cheapest, though. Why is that? Because they also think patients deserve quality care. They refuse to sacrifice their patients at the altar of cheap parts to make up profits. That leads me to an important warning.
A Cheap Dentist isn’t an Affordable Dentist
When a dentist uses having the lowest prices to draw patients in, sometimes they try to make up the profits by purchasing low quality (cheap) materials. One place we’ve seen this often is with dental implants.
In the United States, an implant fixture can cost several hundred dollars. That’s because we have high medical standards and regulations designed to keep the safety of patients in mind at all times. But, if a dentist wants to come in significantly lower in price than his nearby peers he has a couple of choices: make less money or make up the profits somewhere. Too many of them choose to make up the profits elsewhere. The dentists can simply purchase is implant part from out of the country for just a few bucks, saving him hundreds on just one phase of the procedure. Unfortunately, those cheap parts have led to many infections causing not just a dental emergency, but complete implant failure. I’ve even seen some patients come for help because their implant simply snapped in half.
Now, that patient has to start over again, missing more work. Plus, in addition to having to get their dental implants done again from scratch, they have to add bone grafting to the mix because dental implant failure removes too much bone structure. Instead of saving money, they end up paying more than double.
How do You Know if You’re Getting a Good Affordable Dentist?
There’s no foolproof way to ensure yourself against a dud, but there is one simple step you can take— check their reviews. People post reviews of their experiences when they’ve either been very good or very bad. Either way, you’ll have some idea of what others experienced at the dentist’s hands.
The kids at school have been making fun of my teeth. I thought this would stop after I was done with braces, but for some reason, my teeth developed some white spots on them during my braces. They keep pointing that out now. I’ve been thinking I should get one of those smile makeovers that Lumineers advertises. But, my mom works hard and stresses over money, so I don’t want to bother her if it’s not affordable. She works at a clothing store in the mall and sometimes drives for Uber at night. Is this do-able for her or would I just be stressing her more? I know the braces weren’t easy for her to pay for.
Kara L.
Dear Kara,
First, I want to commend you. You seem to be both considerate and mature. Your mother should be proud of you. It distresses me the way young people can be so cruel to one another. Even with you feeling the brunt of some of that cruelty, you’re still considering how this will affect your mother. That says so much about your character.
Next, I want to make sure you understand that Lumineers is simply a brand of porcelain veneers, just like there are many brands of clothing at the store your mother works.
While there are many different brands, each of them has different strengths and weaknesses. Even if you and your mother decide porcelain veneers are a good option for you, the dentist will know which brand is more likely to give you the smile you want.
Are Lumineers Your Best Solution?
A Good Dentist Tells You All Your Options
It sounds like you’re still in high school or possibly even an extremely articulate middle-schooler. What that means for your dental care is your jaw and bite are still developing. Something, like Lumineers or some other brand, will have to be re-done several times as your jaw and bite change. Porcelain veneers cost between $1,000 to $2,000 per tooth. That is a very pricey procedure to have to re-do several times. I can’t imagine if your mother struggled with braces, this will likely be out of her reach.
But, don’t despair! There’s always more than one solution to a problem! There’s one for you too.
You’re concerned about the white spots which developed on your teeth after your orthodontics. Based on what you’ve said, you developed some decalcification on your teeth. This is a common problem with braces. Lumineers won’t fix the spots. It’s possible they could hide the color differences. But, Lumineers are an ultra-thin brand. Without some color manipulation and possibly some filling, it’s possible the blotchiness will show through.
There is a way to fix the decalcification spots, though, using tooth mousse or some other method. I think your best solution is to discuss with your mother what’s been going on at school. Ask her to make an appointment with a cosmetic dentist just to find out what options you have. Some will even do a complimentary consultation in situations like yours. It doesn’t obligate you to anything, just informs you of all the possibilities, along with their differences in price.
I never got to go to the dentist as a child. As a young adult, I couldn’t afford it. Now that I’m in my thirties, I decided to bite the bullet. I wasn’t surprised to be told I needed a lot of work. The dentist said he usually recommends a full-mouth reconstruction. He explained what it was, but the price was well out of my ability. It sounds like something that would really help me though. Is there some way to get an affordable full-mouth reconstruction?
Elaine
Dear Elaine,
Even if you had the money for a full-mouth reconstruction, I’d recommend you get a second opinion. There may be a better way to repair your smile without crowning every tooth. That alone will give you more affordable dental care.
Go to another dentist and ask him to first list out all the work your mouth needs. It’s very likely you have teeth which don’t need work. You didn’t mention having any pain, so it doesn’t sound like you’re losing any teeth and need something like dental implants.
If it turns out you do need a full-mouth reconstruction, you need to verify the training and credentials your dentist has. This is a serious procedure which is well beyond what a dentist learns in dental school. It requires an advanced knowledge of both aesthetics and reconstructive dentistry. If they don’t get the aesthetics right, your smile will look horrible. If they don’t get the reconstructive done properly, you’ll end up in pain for the rest of your life from a misplaced bite.
How to Afford Dental Care When You Need a Lot of Work
It’s hard when you haven’t been able to go to the dentist because of the amount of work you end up needing. It sounds like you’ve been fortunate and haven’t needed any emergency dental care. As I mentioned earlier, you want to preserve as much natural tooth structure as possible.
When he lists out the work you need, have him list it from most urgent to least. A good dentist will also give you all your alternatives. So if you need a tooth replaced, which I hope you don’t, and the teeth on either side of it need crowns, it would make more sense to get a dental bridge instead of a dental implant. It’s like getting three procedures in one.
The reason for the list is to allow you to separate out your treatment into affordable bites. Make sure he tells you about any procedures you can double up on to save money.
I keep hearing you need a cosmetic dentist for that type of work. Does that include teeth whitening? I have a family dentist and he says he does whitening. Is it safe to use him?
Bruce
Dear Bruce,
Do You Need a Cosmetic Dentist for Teeth Whitening?
First, I want to make sure you know there isn’t a recognized specialty in cosmetic dentistry by the American Dental Association. Dentists who call themselves cosmetic dentists, are really just general dentists who do cosmetic procedures in their practice in addition to their general dentistry.
That being said, some dentists have invested much more time and energy in developing expertise in the field of cosmetics. So, for some procedures, like porcelain veneers, you will want a dentist who’s invested in training and has experience placing them. Also look at their smile gallery to see if you like the type of results they get.
Does Teeth Whitening Require a Cosmetic Dentist?
Teeth Whitening is a completely different story. Any general dentist can do it. It doesn’t take artistry, but rather general dental skills. When it comes to whitening your teeth, the role of the dentist is to provide custom fit trays for you to use the whitening gel, as well as monitor the patient’s oral health during the process.
There are always things which can go wrong, such as gum sensitivity, issues with decay, etc. That’s where his skills as a dentist, much more than a cosmetic dentist, are what you need.
I hope this helps answer your question. Most patients love teeth whitening and the results they get from it. One word or warning. If you have dental work, such as fillings or porcelain crowns, the whitening gel only works on natural tooth structure. That doesn’t mean you still can’t get your teeth whitened. It just means that (if they’re in a visible part of your smile) you’ll want to replace them after your whitening procedure so your smile will match.
This blog is brought to you by Drs. Kevin and Hillary Peck.
I just got my teeth re-done with Lumineers and I was really excited about them until my grandmother said I had Mr. Ed teeth. I looked it up. Mr. Ed is a horse! Now I’m no longer sure my teeth are beautiful. Can Lumineers be removed?
Dana
Dear Dana,
I’m very sorry your grandmother caused you to feel insecure about your teeth. I don’t know your grandmother, but it wasn’t a kind thing to say. If you were thrilled with your smile makeover, then maybe there’s absolutely nothing wrong with them and your grandmother is a bit on the mean side. Not all grandmothers are sweet and loving.
However, it’s a different story if you’re unhappy with your Lumineers. Depending on the dentist and the process he uses, some Lumineers can look bulky. A good cosmetic dentist can do them right. Just look in the mirror and smile. If you love them, they’re fine and it doesn’t matter what your grandma said.
If You Don’t Like Your Lumineers
Everyone has different tastes. You’ll never find a smile that everyone thinks is perfect and some people are just plain mean out of jealousy. If you don’t like them, however, that’s a completely different story.
If your Lumineers are already permanently bonded on, then they can’t just be removed. They can, however, be replaced. A good cosmetic dentist would never leave a patient unhappy with their smile. Usually, they’ll have some form of a beautiful smile guarantee where they’ll try on your new porcelain veneers with a temporary try-in paste. This allows you to see what they look like on your teeth and decide if you’re 100% satisfied before permanently bonding them.
