Bad smelling veneers - need urgent advice!..

[meadyorca]

Hi all

I had composite veneers done on both of my top front teeth a couple of months ago. I had problems right from the word go in the sense that the dentist did a very bad job with the shape and colour (i.e. too big, too dark, etc etc). After 3 more (unpleasant) appointments he managed to correct them enough that I was happy enough to leave it at that. So since then I have overall been happy with the appearance of them, especially relative to my old temporary caps.

HOWEVER, for a couple of weeks now I have noticed a v bad smell coming from the veneers - I only notice it when I blow air through the middle gap, so I don't think it is causing general bad breath yet as such. I floss everyday but the smell is still there a little after cleaning my teeth. I didn't really think much of this until I decided to google it last night and saw that this is a common problem when the veneers have not been fitted correctly...is this right?I then looked with a mirror at the back of the veneers and there are some dark spots/patches already forming as well...

The big problem here is that I am moving abroad TOMORROW to work on a remote island in Malaysia. (This is actually the reason I got the veneers done, as my temporary caps used to come off regularly and my teeth are broken underneath). I have read in some articles/forums that this problem requires urgent attention from a dentist as the tooth could be rotting underneath the veneer...so I am absolutely panicking as I now have no access to dental care. Can anyone advise me?! How quickly could this problem escalate? Is there anything I can be doing to help it?

Thank you in advance
Lucy

 

[Busybee]

that does not sound right meadyorca. How long will you be on this island in Malaysia?

 

[meadyorca]

Thanks for the reply Busybee

I will be there for nearly 9 months... I will be travelling to Australia to see family in May so that is the only time I might be near a good dentist..

 

[meadyorca]

Also, I have had a look again with better lighting and the dark spots I mentioned do look more like the beginnings of surface staining to me (i.e. similar to the staining I used to get on the back of my temporary ones), rather than anything more sinister

 

[Busybee]

The old style composite used to stain, but the newer materials don't. It could be the cement that is staining if it has been used. Were your veneers made by a lab or did you have the work done in the dentist's chair?

 

[meadyorca]

They were just done in the dentist's chair..

 

[Busybee]

Well that is unlucky because usually people have no problems with such treatment. But fortunate in that it's easy and cheap to fix them. If your dentist is as bad as you describe then I think you probably have some overhang and that is causing the smell. There is a part of the dental work that you are not able to reach easily with a brush. It's poor dentistry. The good thing is that composite veneers usually do not involve tooth reduction and are easy to repair and replace. It sounds as though your dentist used old fashioned materials because the modern stuff does not stain. what has been done should be easy to adjust with a dentist's drill. Just make sure you find a good dentist and that they don't remove any natural tooth.

It would be good if you could post some photos here so that the dentists can have a look.