CT-based dentist program restores woman’s smile in a day
NEW MILFORD – A CTbased dentist’s program is helping those in need conquer their dental issues.
Greater Connecticut Oral & Dental Implant Surgery’s Second Chance program, New Milford resident Concetta “Connie” Main, the program’s very first candidate, walked out of the practice’s Danbury office with a brand new smile just hours after her surgery on June 17.
The Second Chance program provides “complimentary restorative dental treatment to a resident of Danbury or New Milford who is suffering from extreme oral decay who cannot afford restorative treatment,” said Greater Connecticut Oral & Dental Implant Surgery’s website.
“We look for people in our community that are deserving of having a new smile but can’t necessarily afford the means of getting a new smile,” said Dr. Marshall Kurtz, DDM, who was Main’s oral surgeon during her surgery.
When Main applied to the Second Chance program in 2019, Kurtz said the program received roughly 160 applicants, adding that “it’s very, very difficult to choose” patients.
As part of narrowing down the list of candidates, he said they have to check to see if the procedure’s right for the patients, determine which candidates are healthy enough to go through the procedure and identify which candidates are deserving in the community.
“It’s a grueling decision because there’s a lot of people that are deserving, but we can’t do it every day,” Kurtz said. “We try to accommodate as much as we can to make sure some of the other patients have other options even if they aren’t selected.”
Main’s oral health, according to Nuvolum Public Relations Specialist Bob Diehl, had been compromised and neglected due to her rheumatoid arthritis, which had worn down her teeth.
Diehl said Main’s “poor oral health interfered with her ability to chew foods properly and caused her to vomit, which wore her teeth down even more, to the point that she had 25 damaged teeth.”
When she found an ad for the Second Chance program on Facebook, Main said with a laugh, “I thought it was a bunch of baloney.”
Nevertheless, she decided to fill out the questionnaire, took a picture of her mouth and submitted her application. Before long, she was put in touch with Greater Connecticut Oral & Dental Implant Surgery about the program.
Main was told she was one of three candidates for Second Chance. In late July, she said she was asked to come to the practice’s Danbury office where the winner was going to be announced.
She was surprised to learn she’d been selected as the 2020 Second Chance recipient. Though her surgery had been anticipated for 2020, plans were delayed between the COVID-19 pandemic and Main’s hip surgeries.
In June, Main underwent a treatment called an “All-on-4,” which
uses dental implants in different manners to replace missing teeth, sometimes individual teeth and other times full architect restorations like Main’s.
He said a lot of his practice is now focused on replacing teeth with dental implants and a good number of cases like Main’s happen each month in which they conduct full architect restorations for people whose teeth have either been destroyed, are on their way to being destroyed or are now lost.
“It’s a quick way, an excellent way and a comfortable way to do something a lot quicker than we used to do in the past so we can get them restored,” Kurtz said. “Like the advertisements, “teeth in a day”… They come in, they get the surgery and restored teeth in a day. Sometimes
it’s temporary, sometimes it’s dentures or permanent bridges. It depends on the situation, but they walk out with teeth.”
However, Kurtz said it’s not just him doing these kinds of procedures. While he installs the implants, restorative dentist Dana Jones, DDS, installs the bridge. These components are donated by the dental implants and prosthetics company Nobel Biocare, and Kurtz said the practice has a lab based in Farmington that brings a mobile office to do the surgery.
“It’s definitely a several-hour affair and a big production,” Kurtz said.
While the surgeries are planned so intricately and there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work done to ensure the surgery goes smoothly, Kurtz acknowledged there can be pitfalls and
they have backup plans just in case, adding, “It’s still nervewracking just getting here.”
“One of the nice parts about this procedure is if you have existing bad teeth, we can take out the teeth and put the implants in, all in the same day,” he said.
“Once I’m in that chair, I belong to them,” Main said of her surgery.
Between the surgery itself and the prosthetic’s installation, Main’s procedure took around four hours to complete, plus another hour of other tasks such as X-rays and photos.
“I was so happy,” Main said. “They gave me a mirror and I was like ‘Wow.’”
“It can be a shocking difference,” Kurtz said. “I’ve seen patients brought to tears or parents brought to tears.”
Main said she went home the day of her surgery without any pain, bruising or swelling. Recently, she was able to eat corn on the cob — something she hasn’t eaten in years.
After her follow-up appointments with Kurtz, Main will be visiting Jones to finish the prosthetic side of her surgery: While last month’s Second Chance surgery took care of her upper teeth, Jones will be working to restore Main’s lower teeth. Her next surgery has been scheduled for July 27.
Main’s former neighbor Christina Darrah was selected as the 2021 Second Chance recipient last December, and her surgery was also organized at the practice’s Danbury office on June 17.