Do veneers tend to break/fall off easier if you go to a dentist for a rather painful scale and polish?

This happened to my husband, he went to a dentist for a scale and polish 2 weeks ago - its really the first time he went in nearly 5 years. He's never been to this particular dentist before - it was his first visit since moving away from his hometown. He said when the dentist polished his teeth with the drills and tools, it hurt. Afterwards, his gums and teeth felt nice and clean. He wasn't sure if the dentist was a bit too rough on his teeth? He's never had a problem with his veneer before, and has always been pretty rough with it (he's had it for about 7 years now).





However, during Christmas eve dinner 2 days ago, his veneer at the front broke and fell out when he bit on a duck bone whilst eating duck.





I'm now wondering if a scale and polish at a dentist could cause your veneers to break/fall off more easily afterwards??

Do veneers tend to break/fall off easier if you go to a dentist for a rather painful scale and polish?
The typical reason for a veneer to come off is due to a pressure applied when biting by pulling or tugging; all of which can "torque a tooth" or teeth causing it to flex, the veneer is "not flexible" so it breaks free or fractures on the natural tooth.





Most likely, he bit too hard on the "duck's bone" and pulled or tugged the meat with this tooth which torqued it and caused it to fracture, or popped it off. A cleaning wouldn't have "caused" the veneer to come off or even become loose. When a veneer comes "completely off" it "needs" to come off because of a problem, such as a cement failure, leaking or decay. Something would have caused the cement to fail, a cleaning doesn't. If it had been tugged on too hard it would have broke then, not later.





The good part is that it can be re-cemented back, "if" it didn't break or fracture when it came off. Your husband should see a dentist soon for a re-cement, and in the mean time, be very careful with the veneer. They are very fragile since they are made of a very thin glass.
Reply:You could never prove that the dentist was at fault. Besides that, the simple act of biting down on duck bone is the likely culprit. Veneers are not capable of standing up to that kind of punishment. It is for that reason that some dentists prefer crowns over veneers. They can take more punishing biting stresses without failing.