“I can’t stop smiling…”

This patient attended our clinic after having dentures fitted over 15 years ago. She had none of her own teeth and was relying on removable dentures to continue to live her life. She tried to pursue treatment with implants in the past however, she was told she didn’t have sufficient bone to be able to have implant treatment.

She attended our clinic seeking help with her ongoing problems. The dentures that she had been relying on for the last 15 years were now getting very loose. She was unable to chew most foods and this was impacting her ability to speak and smile with confidence. This was a patient who was polite, intelligent and very pleasant to be in the company of. She didn’t make it too obvious that she was suffering however, once she sat in my dental chair she confessed to the multiple problems her teeth were creating for her. She was desparate for help.

We provided a thorough assessment along with a CBCT scan of her head and jaws. We found that, indeed she had experienced significant bone loss in her mouth. However, our team were able to plan a treatment process whereby we would provide a substantial bone graft to restore the volume of her jaws before placing dental implants into the newly formed jaw bone. Our meticulous plan would ultimately provide this patient with permanent stable teeth.

The treatment to rebuild the bone enabled our team to ensure the patient once again had enough jaw bone for supporting her future teeth. The dental implants then provided the artificial ‘tooth roots’. This acts like  ‘posts’ to support the future teeth.

The final part of the treatment journey was to place custom made teeth onto her dental implants. These were carefully made to match the unique charecteristics that the patient wanted on her smile. We wanted to ensure that her smile was unique and individual to her. Above all, we wanted to make sure her smile looked natural. Did we achieve these goals for our patient?

When I returned home that evening after completing the treatment for this patient I was surprised to see an email from the patient in my inbox. This is what it said:

Good afternoon Dr Patel