Dental Implants

Back in March 2018 I had an accident whilst out walking my dog, which resulted in me damaging my upper two front teeth and my kneecap !  My Husband came home and contacted our Dental practise Saving Smiles, they advised me to go straight away to the surgery and Mr Nigel Kirkpatrick who was our dentist of nearly 30 years, would see me straight away to assess the damage. After x-raying my teeth it was apparent I would have to lose one of them as the damage had reached right up into the root. Mr Kirkpatrick manage to temporarily fill the teeth fusing them together, giving me a bit of breathing space to get over the initial shock of the accident and let my mouth settle down. He gave me some great advice about the options available going forward,  for me to consider over the following days, I decided to go for a tooth implant if it was possible, I felt it would be the nearest thing to having my own tooth back ! Mr Kirkpatrick couldn’t perform the implant procedure but he highly recommended and booked me in to see one of his colleagues Dr Vivak Shah, who had also recently taken over the practice from him. Dr Shah or Vivak as we now call him was amazing he explained the procedure and told me it would take approximately 9 months if i was a successful candidate for the dental implant. Also he costed the treatment and reminded us that the private dental plan we had would cover some of the costs in the event of an accident which the practise also dealt with for me. I was extremely anxious about the treatment ahead, I don’t know if it was apparent, Vivak took moulds of my teeth and booked me in to have the tooth extracted 2 weeks later. At the appointment he fitted the plate with the one denture straight away, which Vivak said I would hate ! and he was right I did with a vengeance, but I would have hated it more if I had been left with a gap ! Vivak always talked through the treatment before and during the procedure which was very reassuring, I completely trust him and the team,  I can honestly say I did not experience any pain during any of the procedures, I experienced a little discomfort after the surgery for a few days when stitches were needed but nothing salt water and ibuprofen couldn’t deal with! Today I have finished the treatment ! The implant was completed in time for Christmas approximately 9 months and was the best present ever 🎁 to myself, an improvement even on my old teeth ! The implant is FANTASTIC, I can taste food again now,  it has given me back my confidence in talking to people and also eating out in restaurants. It was not a good year for me but thanks to Vivak and the team at Saving Smiles I can smile once again here’s to 2019 ! 🎉 Thank you again.

– F Eastmond – 23rd Jan 2019