What Is Right For You?

I met a new patient this morning.  She is 65 years old, and has extensive bridgework in her mouth.  It all started when she lost one front tooth when she was a teenager and got her first bridge... then had decay, got a new (bigger) bridge, etc... a sequence repeated a number of times during her life.  Add to that various toothaches, root canals, extractions, more dental visits and expense than she can remember, and now she is "done with it."  Instead of having it all done over--again!--with the expectation that five years from now she'd be back in the same place, she decided she wants dentures with implants.  She asked if this was the right thing?  And, after discussing it at length, it is the right thing: for her.  She had done her homework, understood the process, knew the pros and cons and was willing to make what would be a life change for her.  We talked for a long time and one of the sad things that came out was that she was never happy with the outcomes of the previous bridgework, either because it didn't match or new problems quickly cropped up.  We took time to meet her mind as well as her mouth.  She said:  "I am the kind of person who is organized, is neat; I put things in their place.  My teeth have never been like that.  I want them to be like me!" She would rather have dental work than plastic surgery.  We will fabricate for her the teeth she wants.  She will see them in advance and we will not finish them until she approves.  This is what we do.  We recognize that she deserves to be happy with her new teeth, with the way they look and the way they work.  

Robert G. Tupac, DDS, FACP, Inc., Diplomate, American Board of Prosthodontics (661) 325-1275 | www.drtupac.com 5060 California Ave., #170, Bakersfield, CA 93309