Below: Allen was very self conscious and embarrassed about his crooked, yellow teeth and the discoloration of the filling on his right lateral incisor. But most of all he had bad childhood memories of when his classmates would call him "Goofy teeth." Above: Allen could have had orthodontics, teeth whitening and new fillings to improve his smile, but he wanted really great looking teeth and he would not even consider braces. Thus, Dr. Huefner created a beautiful smile with straight, white teeth by making Allen eight porcelain veneers. His entire treatment was completed in less than three weeks time.
Allen is a workaholic! Being in the financial industry in these difficult times is very trying and requires an exorbitant amount of his time and energy. Being great at his job and taking extremely great care of his clients has paid off for him. Now getting ahead, Allen decided it was finally time to play catch up, and take care of something he has neglected and wanted to do something about for over two decades – the appearance of his teeth!
When Allen came in to our office to discuss cosmetic dentistry he was embarrassed and shy about discussing his dental problems. It was obvious that he was afraid of the dentist and what kind of treatment he would need to have. When patients are scarred, nervous and distrusting we find it is essential to build rapport and establish trust and confidence before recommending any dentistry. So, to truly find out where Allen was coming from we started by asking him questions. What brought him to our office? Did he have any pain or something specific that he wanted treated? When was his last dental visit? Has he ever had a bad dental experience? Did he have any dental fears? Was there anything about the appearance of his teeth and smile that he wanted to change?
Allen's crooked, splayed front teeth were a huge source of embarrassment and hypersensitivity about the appearance of his teeth. His goal was straight, white teeth and to never have to be self conscious about his teeth and smile again.
What we discovered was that Allen hadn’t seen a dentist in twenty years and at his last dental appointment he had had a tooth ache and the dentist pulled his tooth. It was a horrible experience for Allen that left him afraid of dentists and dentistry. Also, we discovered that Allen desperately wanted to improve the appearance of his teeth and smile. When he was in high school they would call him “Goofy teeth“, and that humiliating nick name had very detrimental effects on his self esteem. What Allen wanted was dentistry done in a comfortable, painless way and he was very interested in cosmetic dentistry!
It was obvious that Allen would best served by treating him with oral conscious sedation dentistry. This is a very safe and effective way of dramatically reducing the anxiety of dentistry with patients who are very nervous and apprehensive about their dentistry. The conscious sedation patient isn’t put to sleep but just sedated to a very comfortable level with a combination of several pills taken orally and often combined with nitrous oxide. In addition to making the patients very relaxed, they often have little or no memory of the dental visit. It is also a very useful adjunct to use for patients who are difficult to get numb or who have a hyperactive gag response.
Allen got the great looking smile that he had always dreamed of having with eight porcelain veneers. Allen chose a BL2 shade for the color and a masculine smile design from the tooth shape library.
After discussing oral conscious sedation with Allen he said “I definitely want that,” and looked much more relaxed and less anxious about discussing his dentistry.
Next, we started discussing what he had in mind with regard to making his teeth look better. What didn’t he like about his teeth? What did he want changed? “I hate the way my teeth are crooked and my front two teeth are spaced,” he said, referring also to his childhood nickname, “Goofy teeth.” He also said he wanted white teeth and if he was finally going to fix his teeth he wanted his teeth to be beautiful. “I don’t want anyone ever to look at my teeth and judge me negatively again,” he exclaimed!
Allen had basically two choices. He could bleach his very dark teeth, getting them considerably whiter, then replace some of his old fillings and finishing up by getting braces to make his teeth straight. He would have a much better looking smile, but it would take a total of 6-9 months of treatment. “That is out of the question,” Allen stated. “I’m much too busy and there is no way in the world would I consider braces.”
We told Allen that we understood completely, but in cases like his where his crooked teeth could be treated with braces we always want to give our patients that option. Actually in Allen’s case, we were recommending porcelain veneers as the treatment of choice. That would make his teeth straight in a very short period of time and would actually make Allen’s teeth look much nicer than braces and teeth whitening.
“So how do porcelain veneers work, what’s involved and how long will it take?” Allen then asked?
“Porcelain veneers are thin shells of porcelain that are bonded over the crooked, chipped or discolored teeth to make them look like beautiful, straight teeth,” we told Allen. “You can actually choose the color your new teeth will be and your entire treatment is just a couple of dental visits, which we can do with the oral conscious sedation that we mentioned, and your new smile will be completed well within a couple weeks time!” We also explained to Allen that we would need do some slight reshaping of his teeth in order to accommodate the porcelain veneers or they would end up looking too thick, which is one of the major complaints from patients who have had “prep-less” Lumineers.
After further discussing advantages and disadvantages, and risks and potential complications of his treatment options Allen decided to have Dr. Huefner place eight porcelain veneers on his upper teeth and bleach his lower teeth. He loved knowing that he could actually choose the color of his porcelain veneers and that they would never change color over time, as his natural teeth had done.
Allen’s porcelain veneer treatment visits were done with oral conscious sedation and his entire treatment was completed within three weeks. His new smile was absolutely beautiful! Allen chose a BL2 porcelain shade from the tooth shade guide and a masculine smile style from the tooth shape library. Dr. Huefner had his ceramist place some slight surface texture and slight incisal translucency to make the new porcelain veneers look natural, like real teeth.
Allen completed his smile makeover with porcelain veneers having much more confidence and self esteem, from both having the treatment done that he had always been fearing, and also from finally getting an extremely attractive smile with beautiful teeth. And one thing for sure for this Aliso Viejo executive, nobody would ever call him “Goofy teeth” again!
Please feel free to comment or ask questions about Allen’s porcelain veneer treatment and/or dentistry with oral conscious sedation.
Dr. Norman Huefner, Orange County Cosmetic Dentistry and Porcelain Veneers. Serving the surrounding cities of Orange County, San Clemente, Laguna Niguel, Irvine, Newport Beach, Mission Viejo, Coto de Caza, Rancho Santa Margarita, and Aliso Viejo, CA.
The post Goofy Teeth – Porcelain Veneers for Aliso Viejo Financial Executive Who was Afraid of the Dentist Dramatically Changes His Appearance and Self Esteem appeared first on Cosmetic Dentistry and Porcelain Veneers Blog.
