408-740-5317
Dental Implants San Jose CA dentist Dr. Cooper wants to share a story about a patient that changed their life with dental implants.
A few years back, I had a patient that suffered from a collegiate field hockey incident and lost her front teeth. I will never forget this story because of the vivid imagery that Charlotte painted when she told me at least five years ago. She was a senior in college, in her championship game, the game of her life. She was going head- to- head with a huge, African American girl that she was not the least intimidated by, as she told me.
She almost had the girl beat, taking the ball down the field, but was blind sighted by this young woman’s teammate that knocked her to the ground. Charlotte was determined and not ready to give up, so she ran back to the girl’s heels and as she leaned in to steal the ball, the girl wound up and smacked Charlotte in the mouth with her composite stick right in the mouth. Composite field hockey sticks are quite tough and are made to withstand contact with hard objects, so imagine how easy it was to remove the teeth from the mouth.
Regardless of the fact that it was an illegal golf swing, there was blood everywhere and Charlotte was lying on the ground, unconscious. When she woke later, in the hospital, she found that she was missing two of her teeth on the right side of her mouth and was horrified. She barely had any memory of the instance considering the woman knocked her out, clean, but was just concerned with her dental appearance more than anything.
Her father had been a previous patient of mine that had received dental implants years before, so he suggested that she see me for dental implants. When she came into the office she asked me about porcelain veneers and I told her that although veneers can seem perfect on the outside, they did not provide the protection and permanent fulfillment that dental implants could. She agreed and I examined her to observe the dental damage. The stick had gone straight up into her mouth and actually cause a major fracture in her upper right jaw. I explained to her that if we did not perform the bone graft on this area, that the dental implants may not work successful and she agreed to do the procedure.
I replaced the damaged bone with new and healthy donor bone during her next appointment and told her that she was going to be a bit sore for a few days and what to avoid eating and drinking for the next few weeks. I then scheduled her dental implantation appointment for 4 ½ months later to continue the dental treatment.
She came back and was approved to start the implantation process so I gently placed the titanium screws into the jawbone to initiate the osseointegration process. This process caused the implants to naturally fuse into the bone to allow them to function and perform just as well, if not better, than her original teeth. The completion of this process ensures the permanent and comfortable fit of the artificial teeth in the mouth and provides protection from gum disease in the future. This stage requires a 4-6 month recovery period.
Once Charlotte had completely healed, I re- examined her progress and was more than happy to place the tooth- colored, porcelain crowns into her lateral incisor and canine areas to complete her beautiful smile. She was so happy to finish the process and be proud of her smile again.
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Dental Implants can provide patients, like Charlotte, with protection from gum disease, while increasing the density in teeth over time. Dental implants allow patients to heal and help to restore their oral and dental health for years to come, with proper care. Call us today to schedule your dental implant consultation with Dr. Cooper at (408) 740-5317.