Bump in the road

It was going so smoothly - the final 2 sets of aligners, though a bit painful, came and went, and I was officially done with active treatment.

Ortho and I decided upon Essix retainers made in the office rather than either Invisalign Vivera retainers or fixed retainers behind the teeth. While he prefers fixed, I was not happy about the difficulties with flossing that fixed retainers cause.

Molds were taken, top mold was no good but bottom was fine for pick up. It fit OK, and they took new upper molds.

Pickup day came, and I was asked to insert the new upper retainer. I said it felt tight to go in, assistant said it was supposed to be tight, and so I pushed it in. And promptly cracked off 3 of my 4 veneers. I think a couple of the kids in the other chairs learned a new word, and it wasn't "Fudge."

To say I was angry was an understatement. I had decided to keep my old veneers for another year before incurring the significant expense of new veneers, and now the choice had been made for me. Now, they weren't perfect, but they looked OK, and as they lasted through 18 months of Invisalign aligners there was no good reason they should have cracked off, except the possibility that the retainer had been made incorrectly.

Ortho denied any responsibility, but it seems to me that (1) when I removed my aligner in the morning, everything was fine, as it had been for 400 prior mornings with Invisalign, and (2) suddenly they break off when I switch to an office made retainer, that (3) the ortho and the retainer he made are at least partly to blame. I asked him to consider what he would be willing to pay toward new veneers, and he again denied any responsibility (like a dry cleaner who is never responsible when your shirt comes back with a hole...).

Will leave it for now while I go through the process of getting new veneers, but I am reserving my right to my day in court if ortho doesn't come up with something.

So ortho walked me next door to the cosmetic dentist, who took some molds and photos, put in some pretty nice looking temporary bonded front teeth, and sent me on my way until next week. I am looking at $6500 - $7000 + for new veneers. Ouch!