How Dentures Change People's Lives

 I had this patient come in and his mouth was falling apart.  He did not smile anymore.  He was very thin because he could not eat without pain in his teeth.  He was a mess.

The treatment was not quite so simple.  He needed all his teeth out and on the bottom he had extra bone, tori, growing on the tongue side of his ridge.  He needed to have this bone removed or else a denture would not fit properly.  So he needed surgery  for the removal of his teeth and surgery for the removal of the extra bone.  He then had to wait for healing.  This lengthened the process but we went ahead and did all this work.  He waited 4 months for healing, then we went ahead and made him new dentures.  This with the understanding that he would need relines down the road as the ridges further receded.

Long story short, we made him new dentures and his life changed over night.  He could smile to his grandchildren and he could eat.  He put on 20 pounds over night ( and he still looked thin).

When we delivered his new dentures, he literally cried in the chair.

I have been doing this a long time but every so often you get a moment when you know you have changed someone's world and  it is quite an amazing feeling.

Regards and all the best

Enjoying Dentistry in Hamilton Ontario

Dr. Ron Barzilay

www.rondentist.com

thehamiltondentist.com

https://thehamiltondentist.com/sleep-apnea-dentist-hamilton.html

My Child is grinding his teeth at night and it is driving us crazy! What should we do?

I have had patients come in and ask me this question.  In the past I would have said that there is nothing you can do and they will grow out of it.  Today, I would ask them if the child is also snoring. I would ask a whole range of questions to see if possibly they have a number of different issues.  Depending on the results of our screening I may now refer the child to their family doctor to possibly send the child for a sleep assessment.  We would be concerned regarding the possibility of sleep apnea.  Today we understand that bruxism (teeth grinding) maybe the brains' way of trying to wake someone because the brain may not be getting enough oxygen. There is no question that as the child grows the airway will get larger and the problem of bruxing usually fades.  But you need to ask yourself is it worth waiting if it is an airway problem and your child is not getting enough oxygen to their developing brain.  How many nights without oxygen for a child brain is enough?   For this reason there are pediatric sleep studies and if the child has sleep apnea the treatment usually involves  removal of tonsils and adenoids and possibly orthodontic expansion of the maxilla.  The airway is openned and the child usually does better at school, stops snoring and bruximg and a whole range of other problems tend to improve.
All the best
Having fun doing dentistry in Hamilton Ontario

Dr Ron Barzilay

www.rondentist.com