Read the whole interview with Linda
Q: Okay, Linda. So, we are going to start off by having you tell us your first name and where you’re from.
A: My first name’s Linda, and I’m from Houston, Texas.
Q: So, Linda, what was going on that you needed an oral surgeon?
A: Well, I unfortunately, when I was in junior high, knocked out one tooth on my top middle, and it has just gone on since then. It’s never just one tooth, and now I’m up to a four-tooth blank here with caps on the sides, and so I needed a new bridge. One of the teeth that was under the current bridge needed a root canal, so at that point, we said, “Okay, we’re just going to get a brand-new bridge, fix the root canal, and get a whole new bridge.” And for that, I didn’t have enough bone left, so we needed the grafting and the implants. Plus, we had to take out the two teeth that were under the bridge in the first place. So, it was a big deal.
Q: Yeah, it sounds like a big deal. Were you nervous about it?
A: Having never gone through it before, not really, no. But, he did all three surgeries at once. He said everything went so well that we just needed the one surgery, and we got them all done first shot, which was great.
Q: So, how did the procedure go? How does it work for someone who might need that but doesn’t really understand?
A: Well, you need to understand that I knew that I was going to be fully anesthetized — I knew that. But what I didn’t fully understand was how much swelling there was going to be and how long it would take to calm down. I didn’t realize that, and so I had to call in sick to work for the next four or five days afterwards because I was so swollen, I couldn’t go to work. So, I hadn’t realized how much swelling that would be.
Q: How was the pain?
A: Virtually none. It was amazing. For all the swelling I had — I could barely see, I was so swollen — but I really didn’t have that much pain. I called Dr. Iero — I had the surgery done on Friday, and I called him Sunday night saying, “I live by myself and I’m worried that when I wake up Monday morning, I won’t be able to see, because my eyes are almost completely swollen shut,” and he assured me that I only had 10% more swelling to go, and I would be able to see, and he was exactly right. It swelled up a little more, but I could see, and then Monday, the swelling started going down, and I went back to work the next Thursday, I think.
Q: Excellent. So, would you say that the procedure overall was a little bit better than you were expecting?
A: I didn’t really have any expectations because I’d never had anything done like this. So, I mean the swelling and stuff shocked me — it was pretty dramatic. But I work in a hospital. After I went back to work, I just wore a surgical mask until the swelling was better. So, it was fine.
Q: Tell us a little bit about Dr. Iero. How was he?
A: He was great. He called me back Sunday night. You could tell he was in a restaurant — he was at dinner — and he called me right back, and I told him about the swelling, and we talked for a while, and he said, “It’ll be okay.” I was sleeping sitting up. He told me that before I left, that to help with the drainage and everything, I needed to sleep sitting up, so I did that. He was great. He reassured me, and he was exactly right. He told me when the swelling would peak and when it would start to get better, and I saw them again that Wednesday before I went back to work on Thursday. So, he and his team are wonderful. They make you feel like you’re the best thing that happened to them when you come in that day, or when you call them on the phone; it’s like you just made their day. It’s very much appreciated.
Q: Excellent. So, you’re not fully restored?
A: I have to go back to my dentist this coming Monday to hopefully get the final new bridge put in on the implants.
Q: How are the implants feeling so far?
A: I don’t feel them. I don’t feel them. I can feel them with my tongue if I take the bridge out — the temporary out — and feel them, but they don’t hurt or anything like that.
Q: Wonderful, okay. What would you say to someone who needs to have dental implants?
A: Well, if you need to have it, you need to get it done. I ended up having to get bone grafting to be able to get the implants, but not everybody’s going to have to go through everything that I went through because I had to get teeth extracted and bone grafting and implants, and usually, it’s not that complicated. So, the implants themselves, I wouldn’t have any hesitation about saying, “Get them.”
Q: Would you say that you recommend Dr. Iero for that?
A: Totally. He and his team are great. I feel like part of the family now, and I wrote comments on the website, and I said, “The only bad thing about it is I’m all done, and I don’t get to come and see them anymore.” And I’ve never said that about a dental experience before in my life.
