All I Want For Christmas, Easter, My Birthday, Anniversary, Thanksgiving, etc. etc, is 32 teeth.

March 16, 2009

I have been journaling Dallas' full mouth reconstruction over the last few months. I did really well at first and then it sort of dropped off. Oh well! I still wanted to post what I had. It's out of order- starting with March and then going to December and January and skipping his late January and February appointments all together. (I guess we've just been busy and blogging hasn't been a priority). Here's the latest:
Dallas had his last of the major dental appointments last Friday, March 13th. He has spent over 30 hours in the dental chair, and it has been completely worth it! His teeth are still sore today from his last visit, but the bite is already better. He looks so amazing. I really feel like I got a new husband from this whole experience. He is still self conscious about his teeth, but not at all like he used to be. He is still looking forward to the day when his mouth doesn't bother him while eating though. Hopefully it will be soon! I love to see him smile with his mouth open (although now he smiles with his mouth shut just to tease me sometimes). Most of all, I love to see him laugh out loud and not close his mouth quickly to hide his teeth. He can just be Dallas.
When all is said and done, it was worth every penny. In fact, I don't think we have ever invested our money so wisely. We would recommend Dr. P.K. Clark and The White Cap Institute to anyone!

December 22, 2008

Today is a HUGE day in our family. Dallas started his dental work!! Because of many problems (soft enamel, grinding, bad bite, the list goes on) Dallas' teeth have been significantly worn away. We have been getting quotes from dentists and prosthodontists for years hoping that one day we would actually be able to do something about the pain it has been causing him. The day is finally here! Dallas is having a full mouth reconstruction by a specialized dentist named PK Clark that owns the White Cap Institute. He teaches dentistry (and specializes in crowns and implants) and gave us a deal to be able to use Dallas as a model. Dallas is having his entire top mouth ground down today. He will just have temporary teeth for a few weeks until they get the final teeth back from the lab in a few weeks. We took some before pictures so you will be able to see the "transformation". (It seriously feels like he is on Extreme Makeover or something. Except that we are paying for it... and boy are we. Major dentistry isn't cheap).

You can see how his teeth are worn down to the pulp. His molars are even worn down on the outside, if you can believe that.

I stopped in at 12:30 PM to drop off our last payment and to see him. He was completely out of it, thank goodness. He had been there for 4 hours already and he still had a good couple of hours left. I got to see his teeth all ground down and how his gums looked after the gum surgery. His teeth are so small now- about the same size as Will's. They are crowning or capping all of them. His gums look awesome! They are completely symmetrical and beautiful. His mouth was pretty bloody when I saw it. I'm sure he is going to be in quite a bit of pain today.

Dallas doesn't ever smile with his mouth open, so this is the best of the awkward "before" pictures I could get :o). It's bad. He'll kill me when he sees this posted on here.

I picked Dallas up at 3:00 PM. He is hammered! His jaw aches and his gums feel like they've been put through a shredder. On top of that he only ate a small breakfast this morning at 8:00 AM and he lost that because the anesthesia made him nauseated. His temporary teeth are just a plastic insert type thing (it's glued in) and looks different than the final product will. He looks SO DIFFERENT! It is going to take a lot of getting used to because it is such a huge change.

First set of temporary teeth- only the top are completed.

January 2, 2009

On December 30th Dallas was able to meet with the dentist and the guy that will be making his permanent teeth. After having the temporary teeth for awhile we had a few concerns. The teeth seemed pretty bulky and too large for Dallas' mouth, and he also felt that they were too white. He was very self conscious for a few days (who wouldn't be???). After talking with them we feel much better. They are going to scale the teeth down a little bit. Dr. Clark also adjusted the temporary teeth a bit. He shaved off some of the bulk and made them smaller so they look a lot more natural in his mouth. They are still just plastic teeth, but they actually look really good. I am used to how he looks now and I think he looks so handsome! He has another appointment on January 8th to adjust the temporaries a little bit more to make sure they are where we want them so that we can make final adjustments to the permanent teeth.

His gums have pretty much healed from the gingevectomy and are back to a normal pink color. He's glad he doesn't have all of the pain while he's eating or brushing his teeth anymore. I'm sure it has been awful. I watched him brush one time and couldn't believe the amount of blood he spit out.

We also learned that Dallas is getting top of the line crowns made. They will have zirconia centers instead of metal (what most doctors use). It is supposed to be the latest and greatest material for crowns and will keep them from turning grey as they age. The guy that is making his teeth is one of the top in the country. He left the best lab in the country to come to Salt Lake to start up a lab here. He is in such good hands and we feel so blessed to be able to be working with Dr. Clark and the White Cap Institute for this experience. We've been able to see all of the work, time, and experience that is going into his reconstruction and we feel like we are really getting an incredible deal.