AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
If you've been looking at the same social media feeds as I have, you might have seen a number of videos about a particular dental procedure.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: You guys know I got my veneers in Mexico, so I wanted to give you guys a little update. You guys, I love them. They're putting on the veneer right here. Look at - you guys, this is like a month update. Look at this. Oh, I look good, you guys.
RASCOE: Dental veneers - shells that fit over the front of your teeth to create a perfect smile. They're very popular among Hollywood types. But here's the problem - many of the influencers and the so-called veneer technicians, they're doing what dentists say not to do. Veneer technicians often are not licensed medical professionals, and can do real damage to your teeth. So we decided to book an appointment with an actual dentist, Dr. Nicole Cheek, who practices here in Washington, D.C. She's also president of the National Dental Association. Welcome to the program.
NICOLE CHEEK: Thank you so much, Ayesha. Thank you for having me.
RASCOE: And we should be clear - there's nothing wrong with getting veneers, right? You can get them from a dentist. How do they work?
CHEEK: Absolutely. Veneers are the treatment option for several different dental conditions. So, you take the tooth, you may need to reduce tooth structure, or you may do what we call a no-prep veneer. And the veneers are created usually in a dental laboratory - they're made of porcelain - and then they're cemented to the front of the teeth. They cover the front, and sometimes the what we call incisal edge of the tooth. And this is going over the front teeth.
RASCOE: And when you say "reduce the tooth", that means kind of like shave them down a bit?
CHEEK: That is - in plain terms, that absolutely is what that is.
RASCOE: What can go wrong if you get veneers from someone who doesn't know what they're doing? Because some people may look at veneers as more of a cosmetic procedure.
CHEEK: There are so many things that can go wrong, from even before the veneers are put on. When you are visiting a dentist, your teeth are evaluated. Do you have cavities on these teeth? Do you have gum disease? Occlusion - do your teeth come together in such a way where you would be able to build on top of them at all? So all of these things have to be evaluated before you ever do any work to a tooth at all. And so, obviously, if you're seeing someone who is not a licensed dentist, then you've already started off in a very dangerous way.
On the least traumatic end of the spectrum, you can have things like chipping. People find that they are chipping very quickly after they've had them done, and then just completely falling off - coming off in one piece. That's definitely going wrong. Because they can often be too big for that person's mouth, the inability to close your mouth is actually problematic. And so you have some folks now, when their lips are at rest, their lips no longer close and their mouth is always open, which is not healthy for the oral cavity.
RASCOE: Are there some systemic issues with the cost of actually keeping your teeth up, that would make people say, if I can just pay, like, $2,000 here and get some pearly white teeth, I'll feel better about myself?
CHEEK: Well, of course. And we definitely do understand, dental work is expensive, but we cannot sacrifice health and safety for a dollar. You absolutely put yourself at risk when you do that.
RASCOE: How can listeners tell if a provider is legitimate?
CHEEK: Well, first and foremost, if you have "tech" in the title, they are not a licensed dentist. Licensed dentists are not technicians, we are dentists or oral health care providers. Number two, generally, the locations that we're seeing this happening in are not in dental offices. So if you are invited to come to someplace that is not a dental office or some type of health care facility, then it is likely not a licensed dentist that you're working with.
RASCOE: That's Dr. Nicole Cheek, president of the National Dental Association. Thank you so much for being with us.
CHEEK: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
