Blog

"I was missing teeth for years and had been told that regular dental implants weren't suitable for me.

I had been wearing a denture and was having real difficulty with it moving about. I was sick of fiddling with the messy denture adhesive and, to be honest, I was tired of taking my teeth out at the end of the day and putting them in a glass. It was making me feel too 'old'!

My son is one of the dentists at Seapoint and he had recommended a new procedure that they were beginning to implement. It was pioneered in the USA, and I was nervous, to be honest, as it all seemed so new and overwhelming. Fixed teeth in just one day? There had to be a catch!

I don't know what changed my mind, but coming up to my son's wedding, I felt it was finally time to make a change, take that first step, and do something that would make me feel better about the way I looked and felt - make me more confident. I didn't want to be sitting at the wedding worrying about the photos, or what I could or couldn't manage to eat from the menu.

People don't realise how difficult and embarrassing the smallest things are without teeth. I was beginning to notice extra wrinkles and sagging around my face where I was missing several teeth, and my dentist had told me that my bone had begun to lose density, which was even more bad news for the wrinkles! Eating out was a complete disaster as I was constantly worrying about what everyone else was thinking; if they saw my dentures become loose or if I felt them slip around. It was a nightmare!

This new procedure that had been suggested was called Teeth in a Day. I went in to speak about the procedure and took a little notepad with me so I could write a few notes down and talk about things when I went home with my husband.

I booked in for the procedure the next day, and was booked in the following week for surgery. It all happened so quickly, it's hard to believe how long I went without my teeth! The team asked me to bring in an old photo of myself with my full set of teeth so they could discuss my realistic goals as to what kind of look I wanted to achieve.

The day of my procedure, I went to Seapoint really early in the morning, at about 8:30 am, I met the Dental Implant team and they spoke me through how the day itself would unfold. I received some sedation, which took away all of the nerves and because Seapoint have their own in-house lab, within a few hours I had my new fully fixed-in teeth. I relaxed in the patient relaxation area, watching a movie or some TV and next thing I knew I was out the door and on my way home, smiling, with my very own teeth again!

I can't explain the ins and outs of the surgery, what type of implants were fitted or how exactly it all works- I'm not a dentist! What I can understand and explain are the benefits- I can eat what I want. I have my old smile back. I have thrown my denture in the bin! I'm the one asking people to take my photograph now.