How a playground incident led to many decades of dental despair – a patient’s story

Dental trauma during childhood can have a lifelong impact for many patients we see at our dental Glasgow clinic.

Here we have the story of one patient – a male in his early 50s – who charts the details of what happened after a school playground incident and how it impacted on his ability and desire to smile.

Cosmetic dentistry techniques can make a huge difference in terms of what can be achieved and the benefits from an aesthetic as well as functional perspective.

Read the patient’s story about his smile makeover – in his own words.

“For over 30 years I have avoided smiling too much thanks to a school playground fight and subsequent loss of a front tooth. This and a general neglect over the years left me very doubtful about offering a grin to camera.

Dentists were not my favourite profession and in a job which involves a lot of public work, this problem became more and more troublesome.

“Comprehensive overhaul”

Philip Friel was the first dentist I had encountered who undertook a comprehensive overhaul of my smile and forward assessment of my dental prospects. He sought to correct some bad dentistry I had encountered over the years and took a very positive approach to what was possible.

More importantly, he assessed the likely outcome to my bite and teeth generally if I continued as I was, and the prospect was not comforting.

Philip laid out a programme of treatment which involved a number of different aspects, from root treatments to new crowns, and which now offers me the opportunity to maximise my natural smile and bite for as long as possible. He stopped the rot of bad treatment in the past and produced a workable solution for me. Most importantly, Philip introduced me to the idea of dental implants and successfully carried out three implants. For the first time in over 30 years I have a natural smile that looks right, which isn‘t liable to chafe or slip or fall out or look false.

All carried out efficiently and professionally and with good provision of reasons and descriptions along the way.”

This patient’s words are important because they explain the transformation he underwent from being reluctant to even grin – never mind smile – to having what he labels a “natural smile”.
If you’d like to read about more testimonials from our patients please click here.