the Price of Cosmetic Dentistry

I received several crowns to replace all of my upper-front teeth. Eight teeth were crowned in total and miscellaneous other work was included in the cost. My real teeth were quite a mess -- stained, chipped, and crumbling (It seems I have soft teeth and a pretty bad grinding habit). This was done with my usual family dentist, over the course of three separate visits, all of which were pretty grueling, involving serious quantities of Novocaine and a lot of drilling. During the procedure several "hidden" cavities were uncovered and fixed as well (at additional charge). The crowns have small metal bits in the back, which I doubt anyone over 2' tall could see without sticking a mirror in my mouth.

The work came out pretty well, in my opinion. Of 8 crowns, only one is showing any signs of trouble after over a year (unfortunately, that nerve may eventually die of "exposure", but the process will purportedly take some years -- a bit of a gap has formed between the tooth and the gums. I think my dentist will not admit to me, for legal "CYA" reasons, that this one crown wasn't installed as well as the others due to a sizing error). Some of the new crowns are showing some chipping but this is almost surely my fault as I continue to grind my teeth quite a bit and refuse to wear any sort of "night guard." They seem considerably more resilient than my real teeth against both staining and chipping. All told, it was worth the money to me and then some. I no longer feel embarrassed to smile!

Don't try to get a procedure like this done all at once. Your dentist may want to do this because it is more efficient for them, but unless you are a true masochist, you will need a break after a few teeth are done. I probably spent 12 hours in the chair all told, and went home extremely fatigued after three separate visits.