I’ve gotten porcelain veneers. While they look fine I’m finding it difficult to speak with them. They’re bulkier than my teeth and my tongue keeps running into the back of them. I feel like my mouth has been stuffed with something. I’m also a little worried that my top arch seems a bit off. This may be unrelated, but shortly after they were placed, I began getting migraines. Will I get used to this or is something wrong? It’s been six months.
Emily M. – South Dakota
Emily,
If your tongue is touching them on the backs of your teeth, that isn’t porcelain veneers. That sounds more like porcelain crowns. While porcelain veneers are only placed on the front of your teeth and are used for cosmetic purposes, crowns completely surround your teeth. In fact, your dentist had to file down all sides of your teeth to get them to fit.
If you’ve had them for six months and are still struggling, you’re not going to adjust. If your dentist made them too thick or long, which happens, a general adjustment period is a few weeks.
However, you mentioned the additional concern of your arch feeling out of wack and developing migraines. These are both signs of TMJ. That condition can be spurred on my improper placement of your crowns.
Get x-rays of your teeth both before and after your crowns and take them to a TMJ dentist to look at. They’ll be able to give you some idea of whether or not the crowns are causing problems.
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