A TikToker’s (@wiintrr) warning against getting veneers says the dental center she used to get hers “broke [her] ZOE.”
Several TikTokers have taken to the social media platform to blast healthcare professionals for medical procedures that have left them with chronic pain for years. One woman underwent LASIK and says the blowback she experiences every day is so excruciating that most people would likely seek emergency medical attention.
This LASIK patient, like Wiintrr, said her life was also “ruined” by her surgery. Wiintrr added that she has poured tons of money into trying to fix her teeth so she can comfortably close her mouth.
@wiintrr DO NOT TAKE COOLANTS. #smiledentalcenter32 ♬ original sound – wininrr
A dental procedure gone wrong
Wiintrr begins her video by saying that she knows how “embarrassing” it is to “come to the internet to cry,” 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 tried going to additional specialists to try to fix her problem. She says she soon learned that the medical industry in America is very much an “industry” and that “it’s all about the money” when it came to other health professionals trying to find a solution to her problem.
“I understand that people need 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 the course of about 24 months, she had to drop nearly $80,000 to fix her dental problems. The first specific problem she points out in her video is “severe TMJ” which she claims 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 describes TMJ disorder as a “disorder of the jaw muscles, temporomandibular joints, and nerves associated with chronic facial pain. Any problem that prevents the complex system of muscles, bones and joints from working together in harmony can lead to 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 wrong shape for the mouth, it can cause misalignment of the bite 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 talks to about fixing her veneers tells her the same thing: She could very well spend another $80,000 trying to fix her problem and it might not.
“I’ve spent so much money with so many doctors, I’m just praying that 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 as I can’t even sue the horrible dentist.’
She states that there is no way to prove that the veneer process at issue is what gave her these problems in the first place. She said that “in the first year” the dentist asked her if she wanted her money back, which she declined because she said she wanted to continue to go online and raise awareness about the possible side effects of getting veneers.
“My life has literally been ruined because I got my teeth redone… I’m not even kidding like I’m in pain all the time. I can’t even close my mouth properly,” he says. “I have to wear a retainer every day.”
Worries fall on deaf ears
Wiintrr says she’s had “100 adjustments,” been to 10 dentists, 4 TMJ doctors, and even tried hypnosis.
Wiintrr says that when she told her primary care doctor about her TMJ disorder and the “sensory problems” she developed as a result of getting her veneers, she was called “crazy” and that she needed to see a “therapist.”
“Why doesn’t anyone care about people with chronic pain?” he asks at the end of the video, while reiterating that the only time any doctor seems to care is if said patient is dropping a ton of money to try to solve their problem.
Viewers weigh in
A popular TikToker, Vivian (rich BFF) suggested the problem might be a nerve, writing, “Baby could it be trigeminal neuralgia? Do the views really hit that particular 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. He went to 25 different doctors and was finally diagnosed with tibial neuralgia by the dentist who hit that nerve during the extraction. A lot of dentists tried to say it was TMJ but it’s not.’
Another agreed with her warning, stating that veneers shouldn’t be a solution people should jump into immediately: “Don’t get veneers unless you absolutely need them.”
“Veneers are too extreme don’t know why people do this first like try braces or composites !!!” another person wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to the dental center mentioned by Wiintrr in her video via email and Wiintrr via a TikTok comment.
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Jack Alban
Jack Alban is a freelance reporter for the Daily Dot covering modern human interest/social media stories and real people’s reactions to them. It always seeks to incorporate evidence-based studies, current events and facts about these stories to create your not-so-average viral post.
