BLOG ENTRY #3

Blog Entry #3 Let the smiling begin! Over the past two weeks, I’ve been visiting Dr. Lafoca’s office (they did it AROUND my work schedule, which was GREAT) to prepare for Phase 1 of my new sensational smile. And now, I can already show the world. I didn’t know it would be so quick. But just 2 weeks after deciding to “go for it” I’m already “in temporaries.” I suppose I’d better explain, but before I go on, you should click on the pictures and take a look at me before and after… The past two weeks were spent taking care of dental issues, like extracting my two top wisdom teeth, and making sure my gums and tissues were healthy for my new smile. By the way, Dr. LaFoca’s office is state-of-the-art, with all the latest technology to make dental work as painless, convenient, and quick as possible. People are surprised when I tell them this, they think you need to be unconscious for this sort of work. And they think it’s going to hurt like heck afterwards. Nope! One thing Dr. Lafoca did that was utterly fascinating was to recede my top gum line with a laser. I had what he called a “gummy smile.” It was kind of like having overgrown cuticles on your fingernails. Dr. Lafoca used a dental laser to cut away that excess gum. It didn’t hurt while he was doing it, and after the anesthetic wore off it felt no worse than a “pizza burn” for a couple of days. With the gums cut back to where they’re supposed to be, it exposed more of my teeth, adding a couple millimeters and drastically improving my smile. Dr. Lafoca took lots of pictures, some of which you can see, if you want to (ewwww!) He also took some wax impressions of my bite to send to the dental lab, where an artist dedicated to the task made actual models of my original teeth and of my new, perfect teeth. When the models came back, it was time to get down to business. That business was done last Tuesday afternoon. I missed NO WORK, my ability to speak was not affected at all. Because I’m such an extreme case (you may not require as much work as me, depending on your situation) the whole process took about 5-1/2 hours. No pain! Maybe a little discomfort here and there, when the anesthetic was injected, but then again I’m a wuss. On a scale of 1 to 10, probably a 1 or a 2. The teeth that were being fitted with the “temporaries” were filed down to fit the new mold. That part I didn’t feel AT ALL. More bite impressions were taken for the lab artist, and finally the “temporaries” were put in over and around my natural teeth. Dr. Lafoca even corrected some discoloration in my formerly broken front tooth. I’m told the permanent porcelain veneers will look much better than the temporaries, but I can’t get over how great the temporaries look! I guess I’ll find out in a few weeks if that’s true. In the meantime, I’m trying out my new smile. This is already changing my life. I feel BOLDER. I don’t hang back as much. I’m so glad I did this! -Kelly K 10/24/07