I have porcelain veneers on almost all my front teeth. I also deal with night grinding and my cosmetic dentist made me get a mouth guard to wear at night. Well, the other night I completely forgot to put my night guard in. I woke up almost swallowing part of my porcelain veneer. Do you think I can ask the dentist if he will redo it without charging me?

– Coleen in Virginia

Coleen

Sorry to hear about your broken porcelain veneer. Since the dentist recommended you wear a night guard, he is not legally obligated to reimburse you for it. It sounds like your night grinding is pretty serious, so hopefully you won’t make that mistake again. You can still ask your cosmetic dentist and he may empathize with you. There is always a chance he would be willing to replace it for you free of charge.

It is completely at the discretion of the dentist. Maybe he would be willing to discount the fee by only charging you the laboratory fee. That would save you significantly. Also, did the dentist give you firm instructions about wearing the night guard? If you failed to comply with his recommendations, there is a chance he would not be willing to work with you on the fee. Then again, if there were no instructions given, then he may willing to help you out. As you can see, there are many factors and it is completely up to the dentist.

It should also be mentioned that depending on the crack in the porcelain veneer, it may be repairable. If the broken piece is salvageable and was a clean break, it may be able to be bonded back into place. An expert cosmetic dentist may be able to fix it so you never knew it was broken.

Good luck and don’t forget to put it in tonight!

This post is sponsored by Atlanta cosmetic dentist Flax Dental.