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Critique my veneer please (dentists welcome)

44 replies

costafortunum · 01/06/2026 09:43

I recently got a veneer on a tooth that had become stained internally by an amalgam filling. First I had the amalgam replaced with white filling but the tooth was still grey so a veneer was the next resort.

Photos are before, during (when the temporary veneer fell off) and after. I don’t like the end result. I assumed I’d end up with a tooth the same shape and length as the original but of a colour that matches the rest of my teeth. But for some reason the veneer is shorter, weirdly square, sticks out and has a groove running vertically down it which casts a shadow and makes the tooth look darker. The veneer also still shows the grey of the underlying tooth in natural light. This wasn’t cheap for me at £700 plus the £250 to replace the amalgam filling first (pointlessly as it turned out).

I’ve been back and explained this to my dentist and I have another appointment where I’ll find out what the lab says they can do, and if I decide to get it redone the veneer will be drilled off and I might have to lose some more tooth surface. She says the groove is the lab trying to make the tooth look natural but my original tooth had no groove. She didn’t say why it’s so short.

I was shown the veneer before it was cemented on but I felt under pressure, was lying flat, it was under a bright light and I didn’t see the groove or greying or appreciate how short it looks. It makes the tooth next to it appear fang-like.

I feel that my dentist doesn’t really see the problem and she seems inconvenienced that the veneer will need to be drilled off and she will have to do impressions etc all over again. I’d love to hear other people’s opinions.

Critique my veneer please (dentists welcome)
Critique my veneer please (dentists welcome)
Critique my veneer please (dentists welcome)
OP posts:
Bemyclementine · 01/06/2026 09:56

I think it looks great! I wouldnt notice anything "bad" about it at all to be honest. That said, its a lot of money to pay to be unhappy.

Clubbiscuit · 01/06/2026 09:59

It fits your mouth and looks natural.

butterpuffed · 01/06/2026 10:02

It looks really good .

All teeth have a bit of character ! They're not all the same , like those perfectly white, perfectly sized , perfectly even , perfectly perfect ones that some have [looking at you Rylan] , and they don't look normal at all. Yours do 😊

Peekachewy · 01/06/2026 10:03

I’d be happy with that

Lollygaggle · 01/06/2026 10:04

I think this is an excellent result on quite a challenging case .

Personally speaking I would be very loath to remove this and replace with another veneer as I’m not sure any improvement would be possible. I would advise you, if I were your dentist , to live with it for a while before committing to replacing it.

mynannygoat7 · 01/06/2026 10:16

Are other posters not seeing the after photo?

mintleavesandthyme · 01/06/2026 10:19

I think it looks good

Newusername0 · 01/06/2026 10:22

It looks very natural. I had to look at the before photo so I could tell which one it was. That’s a good result

thinkingaboutipswich · 01/06/2026 10:24

I’ve had composite bonding that cost a fortune and I really wasn’t happy with it, the dentist was sold to me as an expert and perfectionist and he was anything but. I had to go back several times as they made my teeth look too big, were different lengths and actually affected my speech.

I would keep going back until you’re happy, unless it involves more work you’re not happy about. These things cost a fortune and in my experience dentists don’t always get it right first time.

Newusername0 · 01/06/2026 10:27

thinkingaboutipswich · 01/06/2026 10:24

I’ve had composite bonding that cost a fortune and I really wasn’t happy with it, the dentist was sold to me as an expert and perfectionist and he was anything but. I had to go back several times as they made my teeth look too big, were different lengths and actually affected my speech.

I would keep going back until you’re happy, unless it involves more work you’re not happy about. These things cost a fortune and in my experience dentists don’t always get it right first time.

Edited

I think the sharp one is her natural tooth. It’s the one to the left of it that’s the veneer isn’t it?

Fullofthejoysofspring · 01/06/2026 10:28

Which is the after photo? The only photo I can see with a shorter and more square tooth is the final one, where it also looks a lot more grey than the earlier pictures, so I am assuming that’s the before?

PurpleDisco · 01/06/2026 10:33

Sorry but is the grey tooth the before photo?

Tooobvious · 01/06/2026 10:36

You need to make it clear which photo shows the finished tooth.

If I’m guessing correctly, it looks fine to me.

costafortunum · 01/06/2026 10:37

Sorry the first picture is before, the second is after, the third is during showing how much tooth was removed.

I am actually glad to hear some of you think it looks good as I don’t really want to go through the whole process again. It took two weeks for the veneer to be made and the temporary fell off repeatedly leaving that grey stump. I’d prefer to avoid all that again.

I do wish she hadn’t shortened my tooth so much though.

OP posts:
Chewbecca · 01/06/2026 10:39

It's really hard to notice the tooth, therefore a decent job IMO!

pickalillyspooon · 01/06/2026 10:39

Fullofthejoysofspring · 01/06/2026 10:28

Which is the after photo? The only photo I can see with a shorter and more square tooth is the final one, where it also looks a lot more grey than the earlier pictures, so I am assuming that’s the before?

Same.

if the very grey one is the after pic, which I think it might be as it’s shorter, then I think it looked better before.

can you clarify the pics?

pickalillyspooon · 01/06/2026 10:41

pickalillyspooon · 01/06/2026 10:39

Same.

if the very grey one is the after pic, which I think it might be as it’s shorter, then I think it looked better before.

can you clarify the pics?

Further to the above, if the middle pic is the final result, it’s very good

could you number the pics? I think they may be appearing in different order for people

pickalillyspooon · 01/06/2026 10:42

costafortunum · 01/06/2026 10:37

Sorry the first picture is before, the second is after, the third is during showing how much tooth was removed.

I am actually glad to hear some of you think it looks good as I don’t really want to go through the whole process again. It took two weeks for the veneer to be made and the temporary fell off repeatedly leaving that grey stump. I’d prefer to avoid all that again.

I do wish she hadn’t shortened my tooth so much though.

Oh so the middle is the final result?

yes, I think it looks very good.

dont mess with it!

RoseField1 · 01/06/2026 10:42

It looks fine. Veneers do look a bit different to normal teeth - I have one on my front tooth and it's noticeably bigger than the rest but there is a fair bit of real tooth left underneath so it's a fair price to pay IMO!

CelticSilver · 01/06/2026 10:44

Looks great to me.

Lollygaggle · 01/06/2026 10:47

costafortunum · 01/06/2026 10:37

Sorry the first picture is before, the second is after, the third is during showing how much tooth was removed.

I am actually glad to hear some of you think it looks good as I don’t really want to go through the whole process again. It took two weeks for the veneer to be made and the temporary fell off repeatedly leaving that grey stump. I’d prefer to avoid all that again.

I do wish she hadn’t shortened my tooth so much though.

In order to increase the strength of the bond to the tooth and to make the veneer thick enough , also to avoid sheer stress on the most vulnerable part of the veneer which is where it goes over the cusp of the tooth this is probably the minimum amount that had to be removed .

Jamesblonde2 · 01/06/2026 10:47

Agree with others, it looks completely normal in that it matches the rest of your (none perfect - completely normal) teeth.

I thought you were going to show a perfect down of white teeth next to 1 dark tooth. Which it’s not.

costafortunum · 01/06/2026 10:48

On my browser (not the app) the photos appear in a different order. I wish I could edit my post but I don’t have the option.

The whiter one is after, the slightly grey and longer is before, the very grey stumpy one is during the two weeks that I had the temporary veneer on (or not as it was off more than it was on).

OP posts:
RottenApplesSpoilTheLot · 01/06/2026 10:48

your original tooth was short - the veneer has to work with the corresponding tooth on the bottom - that's what the impressions are for - if it were longer it would probably catch on the bottom tooth and likely get displaced in time.

I've had a lot of dental work done recently - implants and a surface white filling - I would be pleased with this tbh. it looks very natural.

PurpleDisco · 01/06/2026 10:49

OK so the second picture is the after photo which looks perfect to me. Did you ask the dentist why they made the tooth slightly shorter? Other than that the tooth is fine. If I hadn’t seen the before photo then I wouldn’t have known any different, the groove looks okay but again it wasn’t in your original tooth so you need an explanation for that.

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