I was tired and fed up of dentures and they had started to irritate my tongue raising ulcers there. I suffered for a period of time and decided to have a free consultation with Happy Dental and met with Dr. Luana O’ Connor. I was left with a good impression from Dr. O’ Connor and indeed her assistant Anca. Everything was explained to me in a meaningful fashion and there was an air of confidence and competence about the whole meeting.
I decided to ditch dentures in upper jaw, seven teeth and lower jaw, three teeth. Happy Dental gave me a two hour consultation free on a Saturday, because I travelled from the west, to discuss what treatment was best suited to me. Lady dentist with a masters degree in implantology and lady receptionist greeted me. During this time I was advised and agreed to have an upper bridge of seven crowns permanently cemented onto four dental implants and posts placed on every second crown to form the bridge. Three independent implants were inserted on the lower jaw with three crowns and posts. I also had one upper molar crowned apart from the bridge which also required root canal treatment.
The treatment started three weeks later and proceeded for six months giving time for growth of the bone and repair of the gum.
I am a terrible patient and fear blood and to make things worse I was on blood thinners.
I would not advise anyone who has a fear such as mine to watch this procedure on Youtube. It really is not as bad as it looks. I did get some sedatives from my G.P. which worked a dream.
Because of my blood thinning medication I was requested to remain overnight in Dublin and meet with Happy Dental the following day to verify stitches remained in tact and there was no overnight bleeding. There was none.
When the first stage of the procedure was completed, seven dental implants put in place, four upper and three lower I was called back at various stages for checks and verification all was in order and eventually to complete the procedures.
All in all this was the dental practice which offered me the best treatment of the type I required and the least expensive over two other dental practices I researched and visited. I am glad I did this procedure and more than happy I had it done at Happy Dental.
I didn't go to Happy Dental to have this treatment but I did go to research and observe the whole surroundings and take in whatever form of relaxation I would feel knowing the consultation was free and I could walk out and decide I was not going to have anything done here and that was my choice and that reassured me.
The lady dentist and lady receptionist were so vivacious and were dressed in whites which did not show the spills of a previous war. The Happy Dental logo was in orange. It was and is important for me to feel relaxed and I needed to feel this element of reciprocity and it was there immediately. I told them my name was William and wished to be addressed so. How do want me to call you and both said by their christian names. I was beginning to meet friends. I needed friends working on me to the extent the procedures was going to entail. It was invasive when it did happen but I knew I had friends on my side who now were beginning to understand me and I them.
The waiting room and surgery rooms and I have used both with a predominant orange colour, the skirting board at the bottom of the walls and a similar broad line of orange just below the ceiling. The easy chair was also orange in colour and the walls were white. The place was so cheery. Can you imagine a dentist's surgery cheery with my fears.
When I decided to commence the implantation I was feeling very relaxed with the addition of sedatives. We had gone through the patient's consent form at an earlier stage and the dentist told me what exactly what was going to happen. Some of the points on the consent form were in the form of questions where I would have to explain on the form what my interpretation of the aspects of the procedure were. This was a very simple way of showing my level of understanding of what was going to happen.
On our first day of procedure the dentist asked me if I had any questions and if I wanted her to tell me what exactly she was doing as she progressed. I said no please, don't give me a running commentary. Ok she said but if you need me to stop for any reason just raise your hand.
I had a script for pain killers, antibiotics and anti inflammatory drugs. I was not in pain during the procedure but the following week I was sore and restricted to liquid food.
Looking back, now that the procedure is nearly completed, I was never fearful of what was about to happen. Dr. O’ Connor is such a kind lady, she is full of good humour and there is something mothering about her. Although I has taken some relaxants before hand, towards the latter part of the procedure I was relaxed enough without and medical intervention.
On the contrary the following days were memorable because of some swelling, a fair amount of oral pain and discomfort and my diet was reduced to cold fluid meals for the best part of a week. But nothing in the procedure itself deterred me from returning.
Advice to other potential patients? Well I did a fair bit of research for about a year before I decided on Happy Dental. One dentist in Galway suggested extracting all my upper teeth, all of which were good. Another suggestion was to bridge the gap supporting it on the tooth each of the bridge. By the time he had correlated the cost it price had doubled at the final consultation. And it was the final consultation. I did some research with a dentist in Drogheda.
I think that when I met the right implant dentist, the questions I asked and the manner she answered, quality of the information and the personality of the professional, I knew Dr. O’Connor was a safe bet.
I paid Dr. O’Connor 9,800 euro. I had joined the dental plan which gives a number of perks and with a discount. It was the most economical on the market and the amount may seem a lot but remember I had three independent implants + post + crown on the lower jaw. I had a root canal treatment on a molar and a crown on the upper jaw and a bridge of seven crowns seated on four implants and posts. Now I have a full compliant of teeth permanently in position and I will look after these.
I recommend Happy Dental to anyone who have a fear of dentists and this says everything.