A TikToker’s (@wiintrr) warning against getting veneers says that the dental center she used to get hers “ruined [her] life.”
Several TikTokers have hopped on the social media platform to blast healthcare specialists for medical procedures that have left them with chronic pain for years. One woman underwent LASIK and says the hurt she experiences daily is so excruciating that most people would probably seek emergency medical care.
This LASIK patient, like Wiintrr, said that her life was also “ruined” by her surgery. Wiintrr added that she’s dumped tons of money into trying to fix her teeth so she can comfortably close her mouth.
@wiintrr DONT GET VENEERS. #smiledentalcenter32 ♬ original sound – wiintrr
A dental procedure gone wrong
Wiintrr begins her video by saying she is aware of how “embarrassing” it is to “come crying on the internet,” however, she says the issue she had with her veneers is an experience she couldn’t keep to herself.
Wiintrr says the dental work she had done in Miami two years ago “ruined her life” and she attempted to go to additional specialists to try and rectify her problem. She says that she soon learned the medical industry in America is very much an “industry” and that “everything is about money” when it came to other healthcare professionals to try and find a solution to her problem.
“I understand people have to get paid but it’s like, the fact that like I can’t do anything, like I can’t use insurance, I can’t do anything…” Wiintrr says.
She claims that over some 24 months, she had to drop almost $80,000 to resolve her issues with her teeth. The first specific problem she highlights in her video is “severe TMJ” which she alleges was caused by getting veneers.
Technically speaking, TMJ refers to the temporomandibular joints in one’s mouth: Johns Hopkins Medicine describes them as “the 2 joints that connect your lower jaw to your skull.” The hospital delineates that TMJ disorder is a “disorder of the jaw muscles, temporomandibular joints, and the nerves associated with chronic facial pain. Any problem that prevents the complex system of muscles, bones, and joints from working together in harmony may result in temporomandibular disorder.”
According to Dr. Kendra Shick, “Other types of dental work can also cause TMJ symptoms. If a dental crown or dental implant is placed incorrectly or is the incorrect shape for the mouth, it can cause bite misalignment which in turn leads to TMJ. However, a dentist with experience and attention to detail should be able to place dental restorations in a way that does not interfere with your bite.”
The TikToker says every person she speaks to about fixing her veneers tell her the same thing: She could very well spend another $80,000 on trying to fix her problem and it still might not resolve it.
“I spent so much money with so many doctors, just praying something works for me,” she says at one point in the video, crying into the camera. “And nothing works, nothing ever works. I don’t know what to do anymore like I can’t even sue the freaking dentist.”
She states that there isn’t any way for her to prove the veneer procedure in question is what gave her these issues in the first place. She said that “in the first year” the dentist’s office asked her if she wanted her money back, which is an offer she rejected because she said she wanted to still hop on the internet and raise awareness on the potential side effects of getting veneers.
“My life is literally ruined because I got my teeth re-done…I’m not even joking like I’m constantly in pain. I can’t even close my mouth properly,” she says. “I have to wear a retainer every single day.”
Concerns falling on deaf ears
Wiintrr says she’s done “100 adjustments,” gone to 10 dentists, 4 TMJ doctors, and even tried hypnosis.
Wiintrr says that when she spoke to her primary care doctor about her TMJ disorder and the “sensory issues” she’s developed as a result of getting her veneers, she was called “crazy” and that she should see “a therapist.
“Why does nobody care about people in chronic pain?” she asks at the end of the video, while repeating that the only time any doctor seems to care is if the patient in question is dropping a ton of money to try and resolve their issue.
Viewers weigh in
One popular TikToker, Vivian (the rich BFF) suggested that the problem could be because of a nerve, writing, “Babe, could it be trigeminal neuralgia? Basically the veneers hit that specific nerve?”
Another person replied, “I came to say this. I had a wisdom tooth extracted 2 years ago and am going through the EXACT same thing. Went to 25 different doctors and finally got diagnosed with tigeminal neuralgia from the dentist hitting that nerve during extraction. Lots of dentists tried to say it was TMJ but it isn’t.”
Someone else agreed with her warning, stating that veneers shouldn’t be a solution folks immediately jump to: “Don’t get veneers unless u absolutely need them.”
“Veneers are sooo extreme idk why people have do that first like try braces or composite !!!” another person wrote.
The Daily Dot has reached out to the dental center Wiintrr mentions in her video via email and Wiintrr via TikTok comment.
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