Dentistry - fillings/crowns/veneers

[SnottySundays]

I have decided enough is enough. I am unhappy with my front two teeth and have been for years and need to get something done, life is too short.

Both my front top teeth have fillings in. One came through with a patch of enamel missing, so had a white filling type thing placed on that from an early age. It also has a filling on the back, and another filling on the front. The other front tooth has a filling on the back too and recently cracked so has another filling on the front corner which is a poor colour match and obvious to me at least. So they look like a bit of a patchwork and I hate them. I hate smiling and I feel very self conscious about them.

My teeth in general have a few fillings, due to a combination of overzealous dentists (not my current one but a dodgy one who didn't even do xrays and lots of other stuff including not stopping when I told him to as anaesthetic not working) and admittedly poor oral hygiene and lots of fruit juice in my youth, as well as v deep fissures. But I am scrupulous about oral hygiene now, having learnt my lesson and my diet is much better. At my last check up I had no gum disease and no tartar at all. If it makes any difference to what I should have done, I look after my teeth now and will continue to. I also grind my teeth occasionally when stressed so wear a bite guard on my lower teeth at night which has helped that a lot.

But I am unhappy with my teeth and want something done. My dentist is NHS and also fairly conservative I think (and also I trust him) so will be asking his advice but I see a lot of dentists on here advising against veneers and I wondered why that was? I suspect I will end up with them crowned at some point anyway due to the number of fillings, should I just go for that now? I tend towards the "don't get anything done unless you need to" end of the spectrum myself but I have been unhappy for years and I feel enough is enough.

For the dentists out there, would you mind, as an NHS dentist, someone making an appointment just to talk about this? Or would you prefer someone to wait till next checkup? (Which is December)

Thanks all.

[SnottySundays]

Sorry, posted twice, have reported this one and asked for it to be deleted.

[pinkfrocks]

I am not a dentist. FWIW I think you may not have many options on the NHS. I don't think cosmetic dentistry- which is what you seem to say you want- is available on the NHS unless you have severe problems.

I have had some dental work- minimal- and so far have chosen not to have a veneer to a tooth because of the cost and also the fact my tooth will need shaving down to attach it- so I would lose 'good tooth'. The same applies to crowns. Neither will last forever.

There is nothing to stop you making an appt to discuss, but first you might like to phone your practice and ask about the policy re. cosmetic work.

You may be better off going to a private dentist and they usually have access to better quality materials for cosmetic procedures.

You would be looking at around £500 for a veneer or a crown.

[SnottySundays]

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate I may not/probably wouldn't get this done on the NHS, just that my dentist is an NHS dentist and I would want to get his opinion on what might be best first, and perhaps a recommendation of a dentist I could see who could do the work privately, rather than seeing someone who might try to sell me things I don't want for a perfect smile. I don't need a perfect smile, just want something done about these two teeth IYSWIM.

[IonaMumsnet]

Hi folks

The OP has accidentally posted this thread twice so we're going to delete this one in a moment.