Lifelong quest to get denture solution
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Denture Clinic fixes underbite problem
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The 64-year wait to be able to eat properly
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Steak meal to celebrate her new teeth
Sometimes we get seriously impressed by our Denture Clinic patients. Of all the patient groups we see at our North Street Dental in Dudley, these are the people who often amaze us with their diligence to get solutions to problems that have often been with them a lifetime.
This week our practice principal, Steven Burchell Dip CDT RCS(Eng) completed a prescription for a woman who captivated us with her zest for life and her determination to get her dentures problem finally sorted. She was so impressed with us that she has agreed that we tell her story in our promotional work within the local newspapers. You can now read Theresa’s story on our case studies page.
Lifelong quest to get denture solution – Principal Steven with Theresa
From Cork in Southern Ireland, Theresa Reardon moved to London for a better life when she was 21. But it wasn’t before she’d had all of her teeth removed by her local dentist at 18. It’s incredible that for so many women, the procedure was almost a ‘right of passage’ into adulthood.
But from that time onwards, she struggled to be free from ill-fitting dentures, which, with every prescription, failed to address a malocclusion – an underbite where the lower teeth overlap the upper teeth. Patients with natural teeth or dentures that have this problem will always struggle to eat properly.
Underbites for those with no teeth need some clever dentistry, but we have successfully treated a number of them in our Denture Clinic without the need for invasive surgery.
Our Irish lady is the latest success story
In these cases, the bite is built to the patient’s facial features, and the teeth are arranged in a more natural position. It’s a procedure that, with a fraction of inspiration could have been done many years ago, but this dear lady waited 64 years before finding a solution at our clinic.
For those years – and with many prescriptions – she endured painful dentures that compromised her speech and ability to eat. Remarkably she never gave up hope of finding an answer to her problem and even made a journey to a Budapest dentist in the hope of resolve.
We have been so encouraged by the clinical outcome that’s been achieved, a real team effort with some excellent technical support from our laboratory.
Now for the first time her bite is more normal, she can speak easier and can tackle, in her words, “real food.” The night of her first fitting she celebrated by dining out with a friend, eating a steak.
How extraordinary that Theresa should stumble upon an article we placed in the local Chronicle newspapers some eight years ago. She was then in the Midlands visiting a friend and was scanning the columns. She kept the article.
When her previous denture broke, she arranged a free consultation with Steven, caught the train from Golders Green to Dudley, saw him and told him “she wanted teeth like those in the article.”
Travelling on her own, we’d assumed she was staying overnight at a local hotel. No. She popped on the train “to go home for tea” . . . A 260-mile round trip.
A truly fascinating character, Theresa has worked for the Royal Household, still enjoys a tipple, goes to mass regularly and embraces life. Her devotion to getting quality dentures that look great and are functional has left us feeling humbled that she ever chose the Denture Clinic.
We are so happy to have finally helped her in a lifelong quest for a denture solution.
