Where to begin...
I am a very healthy 60 y.o. man but I have avoided dentists my whole life because of dental anxiety. The only time I would actually go to the dentist was when I was in excruciating dental pain and I would opt to have the offending tooth extracted because it got me in and out of the office as quickly as possible. As I lost teeth, I also lost the ability to eat normally as I no longer had contact points necessary for grinding of food. I lost my last critical chewing tooth 3-4 years ago. Since then my diet has consisted entirely of soft food. No steak, no ribs, no sausage, no bacon, no cheeseburgers - nothing that required chewing. Even food items like vegetables became almost impossible to eat. I should also mention that even when I had all of my teeth, they weren't pretty to look at as they were small, uneven and many of them were misshaped. That's the *mechanics of my teeth. Now let's talk about the psychological component. Whether on a conscious level or subconscious level the *first thing we notice about another person is their teeth and knowing how bad my teeth looked seriously affected my self-esteem. I am a single man, but I had limited interaction with women and never smiled because I was always so self-conscious about my teeth. Several of the women I saw actually commented that I should really do something about my teeth. How's that for humbling.
That's my backstory.
I heard about Jeff Gray on AM 760 and decided to attend one of their meet-and-greets. Mike Slater happened to be there as well. At first, I thought Slater was there to taunt us with his perfect teeth but then I got a chance to talk with him. He is a solid guy and he truly believes in Jeff Gray and his ability to transform lives because he has met many patients like myself before and after their dental work. During the event we also got a chance to meet everyone in the office and, if interested, discuss treatment plans. Was I nervous when I first went to the event? You bet your you-know-what I was but the kindness and genuineness of the staff helped to dissipate that pretty quickly. I mean; seriously. These people are nice. Like nice as in you want to invite them over for Thanksgiving nice and *everyone approaches you and encourages you even if they are not directly involved in your treatment. Most of my interaction with the actual dentist was with Jeff Gray and let me tell you. This is a good man. Aside from being incredibly gifted as a dentist he gives a lot of himself to his patients *and to the community through charitable donations. For all of the reasons I just stated and more I knew I had found the right place.
They say you can't put a price on a perfect smile. Wrong! I'm living proof that you can! All kidding aside, the staff discussed all options with me and when we agreed on my treatment plan I was told *exactly what I could expect and *exactly how much it would cost. Refreshing.
I don't know if you are supposed to talk about day of procedure stuff in a review but I'm going to do it anyway. I'm not a dentist but I'm pretty sure my treatment plan was fairly complex as I had a lot of bad stuff going on in my mouth! If you are an adult without wisdom teeth you should have 28 teeth in your mouth. I presented with 24 ugly/broken/painful etc. teeth, 4 critical chewing teeth missing and just to keep it interesting 1 unnecessary tooth rotting away in the back of my mouth. My procedure involved 24 crowns, 4 dental implants and 1 extraction. That's a lot of dental work and I wanted to get it all done in one fell swoop, so I opted for general anesthesia. One of the best decisions I've ever made. Concerned about general anesthesia? Don't be. If you want to know what it's like, do this: Go into a room and turn off the lights then turn them back on a second later. That's it. That's what the whole procedure is like. No anxiety. No pain. Just wow! While we are talking about general anesthesia, I want to give a shout out to the anesthesiologist, Dr. Shirin Bankie, and her staff that accompanied her. What a great bunch of people. Truly personable, truly caring and truly gifted. So, I closed my eyes with horrible teeth and missing teeth and rotting teeth and opened them up what seemed like a second later and I had (now have) the most perfect teeth you will ever see! Perfect, solid, naturally shaped and white teeth and I'm not the only one saying that. Everyone that sees my new teeth comment on how beautiful they are. ....and these are just the temporaries! Sooner than later I will have the permanents and the implants, and my dental world will for *once in my life be all good!
Last but not least I want to let my smart and beautiful daughter know how much her daddy loves her. She doted over me throughout this whole process including bringing me to and staying with me throughout the whole procedure. I am soooo proud of you and I couldn't have done this without your love and support. read more