Dentists give Veteran reason to Smile Again

Thanks to some generous donations, an Upstate veteran is getting his smile back. Dr. Craig Horton of Issaqueena Prosthodontics in Seneca and Dr. Jim Howell of Carolinas Center for Oral and Facial Surgery in Greenville are helping repair the teeth of Iraq War Veteran and current deputy of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office John Reed. “Through careful planning and digital planning with a CT scan and some very generous donations by Straumann Implant Company as well as Nucraft Dental Arts we were able to virtually plan the placement of five lower implants and we intend to place five additional upper implants. We removed all of his teeth and converted a denture to a fixed bridge on the same day of surgery, so that he would leave with something fixed and basically a new fixed smile that same day of the surgery. So, essentially someone who was able to walk in as sort of a dental cripple was able to walk out with a full set of nicer looking teeth. It was just a feel good moment for us because it was a life changing moment for him. It is just something that you wish you could do more often but we had a lot of people that stepped up to the plate to kind of help us make that happen for him.” Dr. Horton offers this advice in order to avoid becoming a dental cripple. “The biggest advice I could give is to not be afraid of your dentist because I think that a lot of people don’t come to the dentist because of a past experience but I really think that just getting evaluated is a really big part of it.” February is National Children’s Dental Health Month, which promotes the benefits of good oral health to children, their caregivers, teachers and many others. This year’s slogan is “Brush your teeth with fluoride toothpaste and clean between your teeth for a healthy smile”.