Inflamed Gums After Porcelain Veneers

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I had four porcelain veneers placed on my upper front teeth. Since then the gums of those teeth have been inflamed. The hygienist suggested this has never been a problem for them and it is more likely that I am not brushing them properly. I will admit this sort of ticked me off. I’m an adult and know how to brush my teeth. A month later at a routine checkup, they were still inflamed. The dentist removed some cement around the veneers and gums. While that did take away some of the irritation, the gums are still inflamed and hurting. The dentist doesn’t seem concerned about this but I am. Is there anything I can do?

Paige

Dear Paige,

There is nothing more irritating than when a medical professional blames you for something they didn’t do correctly. In my experience, patients become better at taking care of their teeth after smile makeovers because they are so excited about how they look.
Gum irritation does need to be taken seriously. In fact, if a cosmetic dentist is trying to receive accreditation from the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and any of their test cases have gum irritation, they will not pass.

I can think of a few possibilities of what is wrong here.

First, there could still be leftover cement. If the dentist doesn’t take care of this at the procedure, it can easily get under your gums and cause irritation. It is obvious your dentist didn’t handle this properly because he was removing some at your one month check up. There is a system dentists who do a lot of cosmetic dentistry have to prevent this from happening.

They tack on the veneer by curing the cement in the center. This keeps the porcelain veneers in place while allowing them to remove the remainder of the excess cement while it is still pliable and easy to work with. Your dentist obviously did not do this, which tells me he lacks expertise in cosmetic dentistry.

Another thing you can check is unevenness at the margins. This can cause irritation and allow food and other bacteria to get trapped in there. He could also have gotten the veneers too far under the gumline, which will interfere with the gingival attachment.

Don’t ask your dentist to check any of these things. I think you’ll need an independent second opinion. Make sure it is a blind opinion, meaning that you don’t tell them who the dentist is that did the work. Just show them the gum inflammation and ask them if they can see what is causing it. With an official diagnosis you can have your dentist fix the issue.

This blog is brought to you by Mt. Dora Dentist Dr. Michelle Stillman.