Do yourself a huge favor and find a cosmetic dentist. I almost let my regular
dentist do a total reconstruction on my mouth and Thank God I backed out at the last
minute. He had also never done this type of work and he has been a dentist for 25+ years.
He had no pictures of any previous work he had done to show me. However, he did want to
take pictures of me so that he had something to show the next person and he also asked me
if it would be okay if he used me as a reference when we were through by giving patients
my phone number!
I knew I was in trouble when he said that this would be a learning experience for us both!
I guess every dentist has to start somewhere, but I didn't want it to be on me!! Another
thing that really bothered me was if he was going to use me as a learning experience,
(Guinea Pig basically) having never done this type of work before, you would think I would
have been given a discount of some kind, not to mention that afterward he also wanted to
use me as a reference. He offered me no discount, he was charging full price! After giving
it much thought, I decided if I was going to spend $25,000 I deserved someone experienced,
someone who could show me before and after photos of patients who had this type work done.
My cosmetic dentist not only showed me a ton of before and after pics, but he was also
able to show me what I would look like when he was finished! When I went in for my
consultation I knew almost immediately that I was in the right place. I was very confident
that he could give me what I was looking for. We are almost through with my total
restoration now and I have no doubt that my previous dentist couldn't have given the
result that I was looking for. It's not because he wasn't a good dentist, because he was,
he just lacked the training that a good CD has. There is a number of things that a CD does
that a regular dentist doesn't do. An example with me is when I smiled there was too much
gum in my smile. My CD had a laser that he used to laser off any unwanted gum tissue. The
laser is an expensive piece of equipment and my regular dentist doesn't have one.
I didn't mean to go off on a tangent!! Can you tell that I think going to a CD is very
important! One last thing is be sure to ask what kind of training they've had in Cosmetic
Dentistry. What I've found in the city I live in is everyone claims to be a CD, but very
few had any extra training. Also, Chris has a check list here that you can use as a
guideline when looking for a CD. Good Luck!
Lacy
Photos: View
Lacy's Before and After Photos
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