Three weeks ago while eating lunch with a client I noticed something stuck between two teeth. When I touched my mouth, I realized that what I had discovered was in fact that I had cracked one of my rear molars and all that was left was a gap between two teeth. I discreetly spit the cracked bloody tooth into my napkin. Kinda gross, but true.
After lunch I called my regular dentist to ask if I could be seen for an emergency. Unfortunately it was a Friday and he wouldn't be in until Monday. So I made an appointment for Monday and went home from my meeting. But the tooth (or the space where the tooth was) started to pulsate and bleed more, figuring that couldn't be a good thing, I went on Google and found Dr. Gregory Page whose office is right around the corner from where I live.
Many of his patients had left very favorable reviews about his "Proactive" approach to dentistry and his good business and kind dental practices. I called. Fortunately he was in the office and saw me within 30 minutes of my call. Once he started explaining to me by showing me my teeth with a camera attached to a wand projected on a big flat screen TV, I started my journey to learning about Proactive vs. Reactive dentistry.
My teeth looked HUGE but I could clearly see where my cracked tooth was nothing more now than a platform where a real tooth once lived. Now it was nothing but a flat stump. I was horrified. Dr. Page calmly explained to me that it was likely my essential tooth was still OK. The dentin was not bleeding, only my gums, and the crack was not below my gum line. He predicted that there was a 95% chance he could build a new tooth for me with a crown that would last forever. I was skeptical because I see my regular dentist every six months for cleanings and I am always assured my teeth are in great shape.
But here was the real truth, three more of my teeth had old amalgam fillings inserted forty to fifty years ago by my beloved but long since deceased first dentist. Amalgam was invented in 1820. That's not a typo, not 1920, but 1820! Amalgam was never meant to last as long as we use it, but in my case, the filling in the tooth that disappeared had naturally allowed bacteria to seep beneath it and eventually the filling became loose and once it fell out, there was nothing to support my old tooth. It just cracked off.
Dr. Page claims he is a "dental nerd", he loves the most state of the art techie dental toys. I am an inventor of electronics so I completely understand his thinking. Fortunately he was able to salvage the base of my cracked-off tooth and build a post out of the remaining tooth material and take an impression of the missing space. Two days ago I went in and got a zirconium crown fitted on the post and now I feel like I have a bionic tooth!
In time, Dr. Page will remove the remaining three amalgam fillings from my childhood and two of them can be fixed with simply a new porcelain filling. One tooth is so badly cracked that he will need to do to that tooth what he did to the original broken tooth that brought me the good fortune to find him. When all's said and done, two of my "old" teeth that were amalgam filled just outlived the use of the material. Two of them, though cracked a bit are still salvageable with a new ceramic filling. That will be simple and painless as Dr. Page has a very experienced "touch" and the replacement of my first tooth was truly painless and uneventful.
I am grateful to Dr. Page and his staff for their kindness, professionalism, and for the immaculate office they keep. Nothing could stop me from recommending Dr. Page to you and at the very least, let him asses your dental situation so that he can "Proactively" fix any problems you might have instead of having to React like I did with my broken tooth. An ounce of prevention will be worth a pound of cure.
Nobody paid me to write this, I just hope you read it so that your dental future is bright and that your teeth last forever. Dental woes are miserable and societally we tend to take our teeth for granted until we have severe problems or before it's too late and dentures are your only (bad) choice. read more