Face Lift Dentistry ® – Broken Veneers

Broken Veneers

How do porcelain veneers break off? After all, a veneer is a thin porcelain shell that is bonded over an existing tooth. They are made to last and in fact, can remain in place for over twenty years.
Some of the reasons they could crack and come off are:

• A poor grade porcelain material
• They are poorly constructed
• The bonding material isn’t strong enough
•  The dentist is not sufficiently skilled to do a competent job on the procedure

In Renee’s case, there was another reason—the dentist had not looked at the root cause for why she needed veneers in the first place.

Malformed Bite

It is one the great ironies of life that our bite is formed in such a haphazard fashion! Between the ages of nine and twelve or so, our teeth and bite are formed without the slightest bit of input from us. It settles the way it settles. That is why most bites are imperfect.

In Renee’s case, her bite did not form properly. This meant that when the porcelain veneers were placed on her teeth, it could not just be as a cosmetic procedure. If so, the veneers would not last. And that is exactly what occurred.

You can see from the before photos that some of the veneers became fractured, some had been chipped and still others fell off.

Specifically, Renee’s upper ten veneers were too short and the lower veneers were too long! While the prior dentist tried to repair the veneers, the bite went untreated.

Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Sam Muslin

Dr. Sam Muslin, DDS, MAGD, is a prominent Los Angeles area cosmetic dentist. When Renee saw the before and after pics of his patients on Dr. Muslin’s website, she knew she had to talk with him about her dental problem.
Because of the willy-nilly nature of our bite formation, Dr. Muslin knows that often, this is the root cause of dental problems. He can repair the bite via the teeth using the proper dental procedures. (He is an expert in complex dentistry.)

Full Mouth Reconstruction

With Renee, he addressed her tooth decay first. Once that was completed, he prepared and placed the veneers over her existing teeth. He reconstructed her bite so that the teeth and bite were perfectly aligned.

The results were stunning. Renee’s mouth looks perfect. Her face is more contoured and looks longer. Her facial features are more in alignment with each other.