Really fed up with my teeth…

[TheCanaryInThePurpleSkirt]

I’m late 50’s. Due to tetracyclines, I was in my teens when I needed crowns. They were replaced due to general wear & tear (and back then they were more fragile and just fell out! 😐) when I was in my 30’s and a month ago, have needed replacing again. At my age, this should be the last time. So essentially, this is my third lot. I have a huge fear of dentistry which is understandable, I think. Anyway, I’m in Denplan (have been since 2007) and as it was all necessary work, I only needed to pay lab fees. The process was harrowing but, the permanent crowns are now in. I also needed some bonding to my bottom teeth as over the years, they’ve been filed down to accommodate my bite and worn down by firstly porcelain and then metal backed crowns.
The bonding itself isn’t pretty. Purely functional for gross wear and resulting sensitivity. They’re long, uneven and a stripey seethrough grey. Even so, the sensitivity is gone, so that’s a ✔️ However, when the crowns were shown to me (before cementing permanently) the dentist showed me them. I was a bit shocked because they sloped down and were longer on one side. She said they needed refining and so, she worked on them and then said “perfect”. In they went. When I got up to leave and looked in the wall mirror I felt quite sick/anxious (doesn’t take much with my dental history). The top front was still over long and all I could say was “I’m sorry, that isn’t “my smile”. So, she said she’d file it down a bit. Now, I’m left with a slightly wonky smile and a very rough tooth on the “biting edge” and back. This is grating with the bonding to my bottom teeth. If I say “fingernails down a blackboard” you’ll understand how dreadful it feels. I keep catching it on the bottom when I speak/eat/sing. (I’m in a local choir). It’s not smooth like the others. And, I have a slight lisp! 🤦‍♀️
Am I being picky? When I left, everyone said how wonderful they looked and how thrilled I must be. I just smiled and paid and went home. I’m not entirely happy. I’ve waited since 2018 for the dental surgery to do this work having been told it wasn’t “that bad” and I think, not believing how painful my mouth was. The lab costs came to £1140. A fraction of the cost of the work done as it IS a private dentist.
I’ve no idea what to do. Also, the gum margin on this tooth is swollen and it’s painful to floss/bleeds.
Any dental work people out there?
Thank you.

Not a dentist, just wanted to say, I hear you. It's hard when you're teeth aren't great. Mine are a mess 😩I'm just praying i can get the finance together to sort them out. So expensive. It started in childhood for me, too much damage, too young. I hope you can get it sorted out

Go back. I had issues with a rough tooth and it was quickly resolved

Thanks for replying both.

Problem is, they “look” amazing but, it’s like I’m wearing someone else’s smile. I’ve done this all my life because my parents were guided by a dentist in 1979 who said “her teeth are so fragile (straight and well looked after) so “malleable” that if it doesn’t happen now, she’ll have false teeth. It started me on a journey of great looking teeth but huge problems.

I’m very aware I’m lucky@Namechangetotalkaboutmysleepingpillsproblem in that I’ve had ££££ worth of work done for minimal outlay but the fact is, I hoped this was the last time and this time, I’d be pain/discomfort free. I needed Diazepam just to get me through it.

@outforawalkbiatch The dentist has already “polished) the tooth she needed to “shorten”. It’s still rough. I was hoping that with my bonded (supported/protected) bottom teeth done before the crown impressions, they’d just make the top crowns “fur” the new bottoms. No. Seems not. My bite is way off and still, horribly sore and sensitive.

I know I have to go back, I just think they’ll think I’m ungrateful and demanding.

Sorry. “Just make the top teeth FIT the new built up bottom teeth”.

I've had experiences like this after a filling. I went back three times after one to get it right.

You're not being ungrateful, it just needs sorting. In the immediate aftermath of lots of work you are too sore and numb to notice the surface being slightly off. They will sort it for free

Ah OP I am so sorry, I totally get how you feel.

I have 5 implants across my front teeth and wore a plate for ages until it was time to get the crowns fitted. And I hate them. I don't look like me at all anymore (imo). Everyone all around me says oh but they look lovely. Yes, they do, but I don't think they suit me at all.

I had a huge amount of bone loss so they had to work with what was there, I get that, but still. It cost me an absolute fortune and so there is no way I can change them now. I just keeping saying to myself, at least now you have teeth 😌

I went back nearly weekly afterwards as they just felt too tight, and I felt like you, that I was just being a complete PITA. But I really wouldn't think twice to go back if it needs filing down more though.

I have come to accept that mine are no longer natural teeth. They don't feel like natural teeth and feel a bit bulky at the back.

You have paid a lot for these (it doesn't matter than you are on a dental plan) and I don't think you should have any pain.

@Highlighta That is such a shame. To go through all that and feel like you’re wearing someone else’s mouth 🤦‍♀️
For me, after being weaned on tetracyclines, I had no choice but over the years, it’s been a nightmare. I really hoped THIS was going to be me, in older age, with a mouth that just felt “right”. After all of the advances over the years in dentistry, I didn’t expect to have a wonky smile and grey teeth. I needed three lots of renal surgery growing up ( aged 8, 14, and 19). I know, I’m lucky to be alive but, the drugs that kept me going did this, to my mouth.

I’ve made an appointment for tomorrow. If the filed down tooth cannot be smoothed as the others I will ask for that one, to be replaced with a new crown. The bonding will need to be filed too so, god knows what that’ll look like. The contrast of the bonding against the new crowns is very extreme. It screams “new teeth” which I’ve NEVER had in my life before. They look false.

I don’t think any of this is going to go down well but frankly, if this is private (Denplan) dental work, I’m unimpressed.

Im getting all Bolshevik now because I’ve had a shocking day with this set of choppers! 🤦‍♀️

Bolshi, not Bolshevik 🤣

@Gatecrashermum We really are at their mercy, aren’t we? But when an expert says “I can do this/that for you to sort it out, you believe them.

My dentist is really lovely too. I don’t want to offend her but this, has to be sorted.

I had braces and then two front crowns, done privately. My dentist went to great lengths to make sure I was 100% happy with the look and also the feel. Regardless of how it was paid for, they are your teeth and they need to feel great. You have every right to go back and ask for them to be amended if you aren't happy, just be brave!

I do think it was the receptionist’s comment, as I paid, which made me feel I should be grateful. She said “imagine the actual cost of ALL THAT cosmetic work, if you weren’t in denplan.

The fact is, these crowns were last done in 1996. I’d looked after them well. It wasn’t “cosmetic” work, it was old crowns causing a problem and they were deemed unfit for purpose.

I am dental - just go back and explain! Happens all the time! You won’t be offending anyone, just work out what you think isn’t right about them and say.

Am posting 3 photos.

First old crowns/bottoms I bonded smiling.
second and third new bonded lowers (wonky and grey) with new crowns.

I feel the new ones are “leaning” left and the bottom is just weird looking.

@TheCanaryInThePurpleSkirt I'd break it down into things that are giving you immediate problems. So the crown feels really rough and your bite feels wrong.
Plus your gum is sore.

Then the issues you have with the crowns and bonding.

They have matched your crowns to your lower teeth which have tetracyline staining and they are using modern ceramics which have a lots more variation compared to the older ceramics. I think they've done a great job of matching but it's not what you're used to and you dislike having grey teeth as that's what you had covered over. So it's the colour you dislike. Sometimes it can be a shock with how much things have changed as we are used to how things used to look. After they have been in a while we acclimatise and it is not such a contrast.

I can't see your whole face and lips (because we tend to all be a bit asymmetrical) so can't tell how they look all over but from your photo it looks like the crowns point/slope to your right (unless your camera has flipped the photo) and you have a bit of a cant (they are higher on your right) but you need to be looking at your face, nose, eyes and lips to assess this properly.

I hope they are able to reassure you tomorrow and ensure you are happy with the results.

No advice that hasn't already been given, just popped on to say I feel you, re 'tetracycline teeth'. I'm 59 and also suffer from the tetracycline teeth effect. It's upsetting, and I simply cannot afford the treatment to fix it 😢

Updating…

The crowns are still horribly sensitive, to the point where I’ll wear my retainer in the day if I’m working from home, putting sensodyne rapid relief toothpaste in it to help take the discomfort away.

Anyone any advice? I’m back at the dentist on Friday morning and am dreading saying how painful the completed work is. They look great but they’re a nightmare to live with. I honestly don’t know why!!

I’m late to your thread, but hoping that everything settled down for you. I am just sixty and tetracycline was used as a last resort because of continual ear infections (l ended up needing major surgery). I was lucky in that it only affected one six year molar that was developing at the time. It left an ugly brown stain and never properly formed, meaning that it was repeatedly filled from the time l was a teenager until I had a crown. Last April, the crown fell off and an extraction was the only possibility. That extraction was a nightmare as they could not remove the roots - apparently my bones and roots are very strong and the roots are attached to the roots of the teeth either side. I am still waiting to have them removed under sedation. I am leaving the gap as it is near the back of my mouth. I think many dentists of the past have a lot to answer for - surely your teeth could have been filled rather than crowned when you were a teenager. I’m glad my dentist took the conservative approach, but the generations born between around 1945-75 have suffered greatly at the hands of over-zealous dentists.