I remember a while back ago, a lady who works at a restaurant came to see me because her boss wants her to get her teeth fixed. As soon as she opened her mouth, it is not hard to imagine why her boss wants her to see a dentist. She came in with a mouth full of tar on her teeth because she comes from a country where she chews some tobacco leaves that would stain her teeth. She hasn’t been her dentist for a long time. So she asks me what can be done.
She said she works at a restaurant as a waitress and her boss was afraid that if the customer sees her open her mouth, the customer might think the restaurant is unhygienic. And also her grand-daughter kept asking her why her teeth are black looking.
I know that she is a new immigrant and doesn’t have a lot of money to spend. So I begin to carefully evaluate her situation and try to work within her budget. By performing comprehensive examination, I was able to see that the discoloration of her teeth are mostly extrinsic. This means her staining is just on the outer most layer of her teeth enamel. And the tar is near the gum area.
I offer her to have a comprehensive cleaning regimen at my office, followed by teeth whitening. She has a tooth decay on her lower front teeth. I would then remove the decay and place a tooth-colored composite resin filling on that tooth.
After the procedures are completed, she was pleasantly surprised at how quickly her transformation is. The teeth looks much better than before.
After a week, she call us back to thank us. Now she said she can finally smile!
Written by Daniel Tee, DDS, MS
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Practicing Cosmetic Dentist Serving Tempe, Chandler, Phoenix, Mesa, and Gilbert Arizona
