Ray’s Smile After Fainting
After Bonding-A Very Happy Patient
So last time, I mentioned how things seem to happen in threes and that this definitely applied to people breaking their front tooth. Here is evidence to that in the form of my patient Ray who is the 2nd patient in a month to break his front tooth. Ray is a strapping 17 year old who is starting his junior year in high school. He has a dynamite smile that lights up a room- and he loves his smile especially because he just got his braces removed and his teeth are all perfectly aligned. Ray is a heck of a musician (like his father and brother) but unlike them, he is also on the high school football team. And apparently the practices in the summer can be pretty grueling.
About a month ago, I was at my sister’s in DC, enjoying an adult beverage when I got a frantic call from Ray’s Mom to say that Ray had apparently fainted, possibly from dehydration after one of those long football practices. And when he got up, Ray realized that one of his beautiful front teeth had broken off!! The picture above on the left shows the aftermath from the fall. Luckily, Ray was not in any pain so we agreed to meet the following morning to evaluate the damage.
The other day, I detailed the case of Kate who had broken her tooth after falling down while walking off the golf course. I ended up bonding her front tooth and will eventually do porcelain veneers since she actually fractured the front 2 teeth. Unlike Kate, Ray only damaged the one front tooth but he broke so much of it off that a root canal was necessary. So the morning I saw him we completed the root canal and then made plans to put him “back together again” later in the week.
And sure enough, several days later, Ray returned to my office, completely comfortable and ready to regain his 500 Watt smile. I used the same new bonding material that I used on Kate and was able to create a new tooth that matched beautifully. The picture above on the right was taken at the end of that appointment. He was very happy, his mother was thrilled and his girlfriend was…..relieved! Another happy ending that makes my job so much fun!!
And as a postscript, I mentioned last time that, since things truly happen in threes, and I had seen 2 patients with broken teeth this month, that everyone needed to be careful so that they wouldn’t become number 3. Well, you can take a deep cleansing breath because, literally this morning, I saw patient number 3 as an emergency- a beautiful 22 year old whose front tooth had broken 15 years ago in a sledding accident and that repair had come off in a sandwich. So there you go- things apparently really do occur in threes and I will show her completed case at the end of the month.
Happy Labor Day everyone and please- careful with those front teeth!!!!
