Good morning friends! Well, for the first time since my procedure back in December, I am comfortable enough to show you a picture of the final result. For those of you that do not know my story, let me give you a quick synopsis.
For various reasons which I wont bore you with, I have struggled with dental problems my whole life. Most of those reasons are my own fault but nevertheless, I was a mess. Missing teeth, major loss of bone structure, and with it an enormous amount of pain. The hardest thing for me though was near the end where I had to look in the mirror every day and see this nasty face looking back at me. Those that love me never thought of me that way but I did and it was a constant psychological battle. Overweight, toothless, and seemingly without hope.
Then one day I decided that one way or another, the rest of my teeth were going to come out either on their own or the proper way. So, I asked my family to be on the lookout for a place that would help me. I couldn’t afford the 25k for permanent replacements, so I would need the remaining 18 teeth I had left pulled, then dentures. (I’m only 49 so the thought of dentures was frustrating). One day, my son Josh told my wife Marcy about this place called Afdent Dental. They seemed pretty reputable, so my wife made the consultation appointment.
They confirmed what I already knew that there was no saving the teeth I had left and that because of my artificial hip, it was important to get all that out so that infection didn’t make its way to the hip. (Which would have opened up a very bad set of circumstances). So they gave me the estimate of what extractions and new dentures would cost and after praying and discussing it with my wife, I decided to pull the trigger.
I must stop here and say that I knew from the minute I walked into Afdent that this place was going to be good. As you can imagine I was deathly afraid of dentists and they were super nice and made me feel extremely comfortable. Never passed judgment on my situation, they just genuinely wanted to help me. I also never felt pressured like most places do as they are just out to take your money. So, if you are struggling with this and need a place to turn to, I HIGHLY recommend Afdent Dental.
So, on December 30, 2020, I had the 18 teeth that were left pulled and the healing process began. I will say that overall the procedure was not as bad as I had feared, but there was quite a bit of pain because of my bone loss and all the filing down of bone they had to do to get all the infection out. Through prayers and the help of my friend Norco, I was able to return to work the next day and start healing up. For the next 4 weeks, I went back and forth to the dentist to check my healing and get my mouth molded for my replacements. (In some ways that was just as painful as the extractions, but again, they were very understanding and patient with me).
Finally on February 2, I came home with the finished product which you can see in the picture above. I will say that having a full set of teeth in my mouth for the first time in over 20 years has been a challenge. At first I wanted to just throw those suckers in the garbage and give up. But, I was determined to fight through the pain and frustration to achieve this part of my transformation.
I will say I feel I am ahead of schedule as I have been able to eat things such as steak, chicken, and pasta. (In very small bites). It also has helped with weight loss as since December 30th I have lost 13 pounds. It simply is so much work right now to cut up my food and discover this new way of chewing, that my portions have decreased three fold. This is truly helpful as portion control has always been my issue.
So, this is my story. I have a “reline” visit in May and then 2 more after that this year before the final liner is put in my dentures. Today though, for the first time in I can’t remember how long, I am pain free in my mouth and can look in the mirror now without total disgust. I can speak to others without the wondering if they are only seeing the missing and nasty teeth. While I still have work to be done, (and I do have my struggle bus days), I am pleased with the first phase of my transformation and I look forward to the days and months to come.
God bless everyone and thank you for reading,
David
