Dave

Case study ~ Fast & Fixed dental implants

This is Dave, a retired school teacher who had a colourful oral history of bridges and partial dentures.  To avoid the dreaded full dentures which seemed to be in his future, and with the encouragement of his family, he investigated alternatives.  This is his story.

Initially, I was pleased with my bridges.  I was a school teacher, so you’re in front of an audience all the time, and the bridges did a good enough job.  But they conceal decay.  By the time that was obvious, my teeth were in a very bad way.  I had talked to my then-dentist about having them removed and having full dentures, but I was very reluctant to do that as I did try a partial denture, and I hated it. 
And then a friend mentioned Maria and that she had a good reputation for doing implants.

Now, I’m not a rich man, and it took some thought, and the support of my wife and daughter, to convince me to raid my piggy bank and spend it on new teeth, but I must confess, I’m very glad I did.

The day of surgery

I was worried about it.  I’d heard tales of people who had had oral surgery and had woken up the next day very sore and bruised, facing a week of tremendous discomfort.

My surgery was all done in one day, and I needn’t have worried.  There was no pain involved.  I was well sedated, I didn’t feel a thing, and when I came around I felt great.  And the same the next day.  I really thought that I’d wake up sore when the anaesthetic wore off.  Not a bit of it!  I woke up the next morning and there was no pain whatsoever and I couldn’t believe it. 

I don’t know how it was done but I promise you, in seven or eight hours, I was transformed from being a guy with terrible teeth to having a lovely set of teeth.

Maria

Didn’t she do a great job? 

She is amazingly effective.  She’s professional towards her patients and caring of them. So I’m very grateful to her as she’s obviously very, very skilled. 

Dave with Dr Maria Hardman and technician John DaviesDave with Dr Maria Hardman and technician John Davies

And you have to remember that you get care and treatment over a fairly long period.  You have temporaries put in while the implants are getting truly embedded in your bone.  Several times during that process I had to ring Maria with slight problems and to check things.  She was always prompt and thoroughly helpful.

Also, I always had a problem with grinding my teeth in my sleep, which can cause damage to the edges of your teeth.  So she made me a tooth guard that fits me perfectly.  And it’s so effective that I’ve had no problem with teeth grinding since. 

My Recommendation

From my personal experience, and that includes bad experiences in other forms of dentistry, and being concerned with issues around pain, and ineffectiveness of dentures and bridges, I must confess that this has so far been absolutely trouble free. 

And it has certainly made me feel more able to eat anything I want, to smile and feel that I can show off my teeth as an asset.

So I would advise anybody who wants to have it done or is even just thinking about implants, come along, find out about it all, and see what things are possible.  I’m very glad I did.