Woman Says Dentist Assumed She Wanted Veneers & Shaved Down Her Real Teeth Without Consent
"I was dumb. I was 18. I had no idea about teeth. So, I just went on with it."
studio2sim | Shutterstock Dental visits can sometimes be a pain, but for one woman, she was subjected to an unnecessary treatment during what was supposed to be a routine checkup.
In a TikTok video, a young woman named Cait admitted that she wasn't expecting a recent dental visit to end the way that it did — which was a complete and utter nightmare.
Her dentist assumed that she wanted veneers and shaved down her real teeth without consent.
In the since-deleted video, Cait showed off her teeth, none of which are real, because of a recent experience she had at a dental office.
She explained that she has a dentist she usually sees in Tennessee, where she's from, but after moving away to a different state for college, she switched offices.
Refusing to name the dentist and the office, Cait made an appointment to get a root canal because she had a hole in one of her teeth that needed to be filled. Her family back home was planning on paying for any of the fees that came with the dental care she would be receiving as well.
Not having gotten a root canal before, she made sure to ask a few questions once she was put into the room, including if it would hurt and what it would feel like.
Unfortunately, there was a bit of a language barrier because the dentist Cait was seeing didn't speak fluent English.
"I was dumb. I was 18. I had no idea about teeth. So, I just went on with it," Cait recalled. It wasn't until the procedure was done and she was given a mirror that Cait learned her teeth had been shaved down for veneers. The dentist explained to her that because of the "severity" of her root canals and cavities, she needed preventive measures to ensure that her teeth would be fine.
Unaware that she didn't need veneers, Cait continued seeing that dentist for the next year while at college.
It wasn't until Cait went back to her hometown and started going back to her regular dentist that she learned the full extent of the procedure. "They said that it was not necessary that they did all that work," she continued.
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Despite her parent's anger, they didn't end up suing, and now, three years after the incident happened, they're unsure if it would even be worth suing since it happened a while ago.
"I’m not bashing any dentist or dentist company or location or anything. I kept it secret because I didn’t want it to reflect them personally. It’s just something that’s funny. It happened years ago. I’m still dealing with it, and it’s just one of those things that I still talk about. But I’m not trying to bash anybody."
There are repercussions to getting veneers, which is why they're not always a good option for every person.
Usually, dentists consult with patients beforehand to ensure they want to undergo something as invasive and intense as shaving down their teeth for veneers.
According to WebMD, one of the cons of getting veneers is the sudden sensitivity to hot or cold foods because the enamel in your mouth was removed, among other things.
Thankfully, Cait's veneers don't look too obvious, and she pointed out that they look pretty much identical to the way her teeth looked before this entire debacle happened.
Still, it's definitely a bizarre experience to have gone through, but luckily Cait can laugh about it and use it as a fun party anecdote instead of looking at the entire thing negatively, even if she'd be more than entitled to.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.