Thelma’s case study. Life changing
After years of lost confidence and staying in the background, Thelma finds her new All-on-4® smile life changing
Thelma is vibrant, happy and radiates warmth. Her smile shines so brightly that you immediately want to smile back in her direction.
But unfortunately for Thelma she has spent most of her later life in the background, held back by the insecurities which her severe dental problems had created.
“If I’m honest I had been hiding myself away for so many years” said 81 year-old Thelma. “I would cover my mouth with a handkerchief and if I did venture out my mouth was all I would think about. I hadn’t been myself for such a long time.”
Having struggled like this since the late 90’s, a strange turn of events in 2015 and a visit to North Street Dental Clinic transformed Thelma’s life forever.
Thelma begins her story by saying: “Throughout my life everyone who knew me would have said I was full of life and full of confidence.”
Dental problems
Unfortunately for Thelma an innocuous tumble in her 60’s proved to be the beginning of decades of dental problems when having broken her arm in a fall the medication she began taking had an adverse effect.
“I didn’t really think anything of it at the start, but as the years went on my teeth became twisted, they began to break, eventually most of them fell out and I couldn’t do anything about it. I was in limbo.
“I stopped going out, I was always in the background, my confidence vanished, I was in pain and I became a shadow of my former self. I couldn’t eat hard or chewy foods and I had to blend all of my meals.”
Out of the blue in 2015 Thelma received sad news of a family bereavement which left her a small sum of money and this led her to visit North Street Dental in the hope of bringing her smile back.
So Special
Penny, Thelma’s daughter told us: “We had seen mum struggle for so long but that day was amazing. All of the staff were so friendly, they put my mum and all of the family at complete ease. Steve, Owain and all the girls made mum feel so special that she decided there and then that she wanted the treatment.”
Owain Rees, Clinical Lead at North Street shared his first experience of Thelma: “She seemed shy at the initial appointment but when she explained to us how many years she had struggled with her teeth we all felt that we wanted to help.
“I recommended an All-on-4 ‘teeth in a day’ implants solution through which you essentially arrive with no teeth and leave with a fully fixed arch of teeth and Thelma and her daughters were both happy to go ahead.”
So Thelma took the plunge but did have a few fears to overcome: “The treatment sounded wonderful but when the day came I admit I was a little anxious. I am a real baby when it comes to pain, so even sitting in the chair I was worried but the staff were so good to me and made me feel so calm.
“When the treatment was completed and I looked in the mirror we were all crying. I couldn’t believe the transformation; it was one of the most emotional moments in my life. I wish I had gone for the treatment years ago because it has changed my life completely.”
Embraced
One of the best things about Thelma post-treatment is how she has embraced all the things she loves to do but hadn’t felt able to do for so long.
“I love liver & onions and I can now eat anything I like, I go out with friends and family and I love walking my two dogs Jasper & Poppy over Priory Park. I get stopped all the time by neighbours asking about my teeth, I feel like I spend the whole time smiling now.”
Thelma told us that she couldn’t recommend North Street highly enough, “If anyone asks me where I got my teeth done, I tell them straight away and I hope that one day they can experience such a life changing moment as me.”
Thelma after her treatment at North Street Dental
Thelma before her treatment
