Will I Lose This Dental Implant If I Keep Trying to Get it to Match?

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I had a dental implant put on a lateral incisor. The problem I am having is with the dental crown that covers it. I’ve had the dentist re-do it three times, none of which have matched my other teeth. My dentist said, I am being overly critical and I should just be grateful. Apparently, the problem is that my teeth are between the A1 and A2 shades, so dental shades don’t match it. What I really just want is for my implant crown to blend in with the other teeth the way my dental flipper did. I was going to go to a different dentist to try and see if someone else can get better results but my dentist told me that if I keep manipulating the crown, that I will put the dental implant at risk of becoming loose and failing. I definitely don’t want to cause my dental implant damage. Is there anyway to use something like teeth whitening on my teeth to get them the same color?

Fanny

Dear Fanny,

I’m just going to say that you are not with the best dentist. He doesn’t know how to match the teeth and he is blaming you as being too picky instead of admitting his shortcomings. If you were happy with the dental flipper, then I can tell right away that you are not being overly critical simply because you were happy with the flipper. These are not the pinnacle of cosmetic achievement. Teeth whitening will not work because it will whiten all your natural teeth uniformly and not do anything for the porcelain crown at all.

Now for the good news. Removing the crown to replace it with one that matches is not going to damage your dental implant. He only said that to scare you. If the implant is done correctly, it is secured in your bone. Honestly, he should have been using a temporary try-in paste to make sure you were happy with the crown before permanently bonding it on anyway.

It sounds like your dentist is just using a shade guide to match the tooth. This works for a back tooth where no light really hits when you smile. However, for other teeth your dentist has to put in some work.

They would provide the lab with a color map, such as the one to the left, and tint tabs to show the ceramist what tints they’d need. It would start with the basic shade, such as an A2 from the shade guide, then the color map would show the lab exactly where to put the various tints in order to get an exact match with your adjacent teeth.

I do not think you are going to get anywhere with your current dentist. Even if he didn’t understand or know about color maps, he could have taken the simple step of telling the lab to do a shade that is between A1 and A2. That is possible. You’re going to have to go elsewhere to get this done right.

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