When I first learn to make dentures, I felt so sad for those people who have to suffer from losing their full set of teeth. I thought to myself the least I can do is to learn how to make the most beautiful and the most comfortable set of dentures for them and perhaps I can help them restore some form of dignity. I know making denture is not exactly the most glorious thing but that is how I got interested in prosthodontics.
In my practice, a good part of my referral are patients who are either medical nightmares or dental nightmare where nobody wants to treat. Sometimes, you see patients who have already lost hope and you witness a lot of behaviors ranging from missing their dental appointments, family members fighting over what is best for their dental health or they are not accepting the reality of their treatment options. Sometimes it takes quite a bit of efforts of repetitive discussions before they accept what they are having.
For this case, the patient has some remaining root tips, some mispositioned dental implants, large tori and everything that preclude you from having a set of ideal dentures….but this is all you can offer the patient because the patient cannot tolerate anything but extracting the remaining root tips.
I took the time to make final impressions and contoured the occlusal rims the best way to restore her face. The teeth try in appointment is usually a turning point in my treatment. During the teeth try in, she was so happy to see teeth. She was so happy to see her youthful self again. Her daughter and herself got so excited even my staff noticed immediately a big change of persona in them.
This is not the first time I have witnessed this. I called this a delayed form of gratification in prosthodontics. I called this giving hope to the society’s rejects. I hope this gives you a reason to persevere to study prosthodontics.
