Read Frank’s Story

Hello, my name is Frank and I’m from Jenkintown, Pennsylvania and I’d like to tell you a little about my experience with By Design Dental. I came to the practice to have an All-on-4^® procedure done both on the upper and lower jaw. Just a real brief description of the All-on-4^® procedure, it’s a full arch of teeth on the upper jaw and the lower jaw supported by four implants on both the upper and lower jaw for a total of eight implants involved.

I came to this point in my dental history if you will because I got to the point where I only had nine of my original teeth left. Six in the front and three in the back and of course it’s pretty hard to eat with a mouth like this. I had been going to the same dentist for forty years, a very kind man who passed away of a sudden illness. I lost the dentist that I had that I trusted and had been going to for years and I had to find another dentist. The problem I have with dentists is I have a terrible, terrible, terrible gag reflex. I mean I can just walk by a dentist’s office and see the shingle outside and I start to gag. It’s that bad so it’s very hard for me to get comfortable with any dentist at all. I found a dentist in the area and I went to him and we came up with a treatment plan that included capping all of these nine teeth and making a partial denture for the lower jaw and six implants in the top for a fixed bridge. The amount of time that that would have involved in a dental chair just scared the heck out of me. I mean you have the temporary caps, you have the full caps, you have impressions, you have the implants. I figured I’d be at the dentist for a year to a year and a half gagging all the way. I did a little research on the internet and I came across this procedure called the All-on-4^® and it sounded like just the thing that would be good for me. There are a few dentists in the area that I’m sure would have done a fine job, but they were big practices and I feel like I would have just been a number and not gotten the individual attention.

By luck, I was reading the paper one night and I saw an ad for By Design Dental Implant Center in King of Prussia. I went on the site and I really keyed in on the Surgeon, Dr. Mogyoros and I was very, very impressed with his experience and his credentials so I made an appointment to come out to see him. We did the CT Scan, which of course they have all this equipment in their modern office and he said that I definitely was a candidate for the All-on-4^®. I then met everyone else in the office and let me tell you I have never ever been in a dental office like this before. It really was like walking into your living room. Everybody was so friendly and they have their own dental lab right here on site. They have a Prosthodontist who is a restorative dentist who makes the teeth and all of these people are involved in the crafting of the treatment plan. It’s not just the Oral Surgeon looking to say “I’m going to put the implants in here” and then a restorative dentist coming in and going “I don’t like that. I wish he would have put them here.” They all actually come up with a “Plan A” and a “Plan B” when they’re putting your treatment together and then as the procedure goes on, they may have to change things, but it’s very important that these people are involved. Even the lab person who makes the teeth is involved, which is also very important.

On January 29 I came out with my wife to the office and I remember sitting in my car listening to Satellite radio and my whole life was flashing before me. I was that scared to walk in and get in that chair. I sat down in the chair and as soon as Dr. Mogyoros came in, I felt a lot more comfortable. They started the IV sedation, which is by the way the only way they could have done the procedure on me. Just remember now, they’re taking out nine teeth, extracting nine teeth and three of them were molars and that’s usually just enough for one day and then they’ve got to put in eight implants on top of it and then they’re going to make the teeth that go on these implants so I’m going to leave that night with an upper and lower and I’m going to be able to eat pretty well. They started the IV and really I can’t tell you what the procedure was like because I was out of it. I have no idea. I just know that I came to and I was looking at the clock across the way, which is ironic. It was on the Capital Grill which is a steakhouse known for their wonderful steaks. I’m thinking I’m going to be able to eat steaks again. I couldn’t for years because of the way my teeth were. I still can’t believe they were able to do this without me knowing what was going on. In fact, Dr. Mogyoros stopped about half way through and came out and gave my wife a reading on how I was doing. He said “Oh he’s doing fine. He’s tapping his fingers to the music and he’s laughing at some of the conversations we’re having.” I don’t remember any of that. That’s what conscious sedation does. They say it’s kind of like amnesia. You’re kind of awake so you can cooperate with the doctor doing the procedure, but you don’t remember anything afterwards. I just can’t believe how good I felt. The rest of the day was spent making my temporary teeth and making sure I was comfortable with them. I had smoothies to drink. I had plenty of ice. Anytime I looked the least bit uncomfortable, they were like “can I do this for you? Can I get that?”. I was like “I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine.” About 7:00 at night I was finished and I came out. No pain at all. Everything felt fine. Every one of those people, Dr. Thaler, Rand the fellow who makes the teeth, Jamie, they were all still here and it was like 7:00 at night. When you are here, you are their main focus. You are the reason they exist almost. It’s not a 9-4 job for these people. They really take their work seriously.

The next day I came out here for the post-op and it was like I’m retired. I’ve been retired for eight years but if I were still working I could have gone to work. No pain. I had a little bit of swelling and bruising on one side because I didn’t keep the ice on as much as I should have. That night I went home and I had some soup and some bread and it wasn’t that long afterwards that I was eating fish, chicken and ground beef. The diet was no problem at all. As far as pain goes, they gave me a prescription for pain medication. I had it filled because I thought I’m really going to need this the next day. I didn’t even touch them. I took a little regular strength Tylenol for about 24 hours and that was it.

It probably was a couple of months, in fact it was in July when I finally got the final set of teeth and the final set of teeth are supported by a titanium bar which they send out to have milled and that gives the teeth a lot more strength and you actually get two more teeth, two on the upper and two on the lower so you have twelve teeth on the bottom and twelve on the top. I still worked out. I’m retired and I was bench pressing and I guess the last one I was trying to get that last rep in and I felt this thing in my mouth and I thought “That feels like a tooth.” These are temporary teeth and they came out and I’m thinking “what’s going on here?” It was a Friday and I’ve been without front teeth before so I thought “no problem”. I called the office and I told Rita what had happened and she said “You have to come out here right away. We’ll bring Dr. Thaler in and put that tooth back in.” I told her “Rita, it’s Friday. It can wait. I don’t want to bring the poor doctor out.” He came out and within half an hour I had that tooth put back in. This is just the kind of people they are. They can’t do enough for you. I tell that story just to get a flavor of what happens.

The final teeth, it probably took them an extra month longer than usual because the titanium bar when it came back wasn’t perfect. Believe me, these people are perfectionists so they sent it back twice, which is no problem because I was doing fine with my temporary teeth. I was eating and they just as well could have been the permanent teeth. July 17 I came back and it was the day I had been waiting for. They installed the final teeth with the titanium bar and everything has been absolutely fantastic since then. I can eat anything I want. I can eat a bagel again. I can bite into a big hoagie. I can eat a big steak and hopefully this is the end of my dental hell. I come out now twice a year for a cleaning. Actually I never thought I’d enjoy going to the dentist, but I do because I come back for my cleaning and I get to see these wonderful people out here.

If I had to do it over again I would definitely do this again and I would definitely do it again at By Design Dental. These are the nicest people in the world and I really do consider them a part of my family. As a matter of fact, my son just got married two weeks ago and I brought the wedding pictures out to share with everyone and they really seemed happy to see them. That’s my story and I’ll make this offer. Anyone who happens to see this video, you can get in touch with the people at By Design Dental and I will talk to them anytime and answer any questions they have about this procedure. That’s how sold I am on these people at By Design Dental.

I’m a big meat and potatoes kind of guy. My big emphasis was “I can eat again.” Obviously I think they did a fine job with my teeth, but I was just so relieved that I found somebody that could take care of my dental problems basically in one day without all the emotions and gagging and everything and now hopefully I’m set for life. I won’t have to worry about anything like root canals or anything like that. You just go for a cleaning and that’s it. The other thing, my wife and I are retired and we like to travel and with caps on your front teeth that are always breaking, I never knew what kind of shape I would be in. On one of these trips I might not be able to eat. I might have no teeth in the front. I never knew, but now I’m pretty confident. Since I’ve had these permanent teeth, I haven’t had one problem at all. I have had people ask me and they just didn’t seem to get it. They’re not false teeth, they’re actually screwed in and they don’t come out. At night I just brush my teeth like normal and use floss and so I asked them out here the day I got my final teeth give me some pictures. This is all extra and they took some pictures of me with the teeth in and without the teeth. They took some pictures of the actual implants hanging in there. I got some pictures of the temporary teeth and then the ones with the titanium bar and I actually got a picture of my CT Scan before and after and they put this together in like a little story book for me. Again, this is the kind of people they are. If you ask them for something like that, they’ll do it. I actually have this at home on my computer now so I’ve had people come in and I’ll say “Let me just show you what this is all about” and it works well.

This is obviously something you wouldn’t do if you have only one or two teeth missing. Can you imagine me with the gag reflex I have with dentures with that palate piece in the back? I just couldn’t even imagine that. These actually feel like my real teeth and if I didn’t know any better I would think they were my real teeth. I think it’s a great procedure, but even more than that having it done at a place like this where you’re just totally comfortable and the people are extremely confident.

Please go on there and look at their credentials and look at the bios. These people have many, many years of experience and I feel that they’re the best people to do work like this.