Don’t Use Yelp to Choose Your Cosmetic Dentist

I need some advice about how what to bring my dentist about my smile makeover. I’ve got it limited to the top two on Yelp, and now I just need to decide on color. I’ve seen some smile makeovers with people my age and they always look too white for their age, which I think makes them look obviously fake. I’m 72. I was thinking to have bonding done at a BL2 color for my front six teeth. What do you think?

Elizabeth

Dear Elizabeth,

I love that you are doing research to try to get the best smile makeover possible. My concern is that you are researching the wrong things. Let’s start with the question you wanted answered most and then I’ll address some other important issues. Color depends on a lot of different factors. That is best picked in consultation with the dentist you choose for your smile makeover. That leads to my biggest concern.

How do you know you have the best cosmetic dentist to do your case? While Yelp! is great for many things, and I use it myself often, it isn’t where I would go to choose the “best cosmetic dentist.” Here’s why.

They go by ratings from patients, but they do not distinguish between why they received those ratings. For instance, they may be a 5-star rated dentist but that is because “The staff is friendly,” or “They are always running on time.” None of this tells you their skills as a cosmetic dentist.

As an experiment I did a search for “Best Cosmetic Dentist in X” city. Of the top 5 dentists listed, only two of them even did cosmetic dentistry. Of those two. Only one had any real credentials. One of the big problems patients face is that there is not a recognized specialty for cosmetic dentistry. As a result, any general dentist can “do” cosmetic procedures. Whether they have the skill or training to do them is another story.

Instead of looking on Yelp!, I would look at the dentist’s website. Do they have post doctoral training in cosmetic work? If so, their bio should indicate that. Do they have a smile gallery? If they don’t, they’re not a true cosmetic dentist. If they do, then make sure that it is photos of smile makeovers that they actually did and not just stock photos. Also, that the results are stunning.

Porcelain Veneers Versus Dental Bonding

You had mentioned your plan was to get six teeth covered with dental bonding. I wanted to make sure you understood that this will end up costing you more and have less stunning results than if you did porcelain veneers, which is the standard treatment for a smile makeover.

This is for a few reasons:

• Dental bonding is used for small repairs, such as chipped teeth or tooth gaps
• Bonding doesn’t last as long as porcelain veneers, which means you’ll have to replace it every few years
• Porcelain will give you a much more natural look
• Bonding has to be done by hand which will increase the time in the dental chair (and your fee)

One other thing to be aware of, whether you end up going with veneers or bonding, most smiles are eight to ten teeth wide. If you are only getting six teeth done, you will want to whiten all of your teeth first so that they will blend in with your teeth that did get made over.

This blog is brought to you by a top-rated dentist in Naples, Dr. Robert Bracho.