“It was while driving back from a weekend away that I first felt that sickening sensation: my bridge had become unstable. I had had a bridge for about ten years and had rejoiced in ridding myself of the denture I had endured ever since my two front teeth had been knocked out by a hockey ball. But now I was told that it was irreparable and that my then dentist could not recommend replacing it.

A referral to Addenbrooke’s, where I first met Julian Fraser, produced the welcome information that I might be suitable for implants – and the unwelcome information that mine was not a case the NHS would consider funding! And so in January I found myself at Granta Dental. Dr Harrison’s assessment contained both good news (I was suitable for implants as far as my upper jaw was concerned) and bad (I needed other work done as well). I went away to await an estimate for the job. When it arrived, I was horrified. Spend the cost of quite a flashy car on my teeth? I’d been a regular patient at my dentist; how could there be so much wrong? I threw the estimate into the bin.

Thankfully, my husband calmly retrieved it and suggested we should go and talk to Helen and to Julian, and listen to their explanation. So we did. I then began to understand how the arrangement of teeth in my lower jaw was compromising any successful treatment of my missing upper teeth. Denture or implants alike would ultimately fail unless this problem was addressed.

We saw the point of this and I set out on the path of orthodontic treatment, encouraged by my younger son who had also undergone it, and by Dr. Moopen who explained every stage of the procedure. It was at times mildly uncomfortable, but no more than that – and it was a great ice-breaker with teenagers! 

Meanwhile, Helen did some work on my upper teeth, making me a denture which fitted far better than any I had had before. I thought for some time that the denture and the re-aligned bite were going to be the solution, until it occurred to me how lost I’d be if/when I damaged the denture and it needed repairing. I went back to the practice to seek a spare denture and for the temporary crowns in my upper jaw to be replaced with permanent ones.

But as I talked to Helen, I realised that my approach to implants had changed. I could now see that they presented a much simpler solution, and that I had resisted because I had seen it as a form of cosmetic surgery, against which my puritanical soul rebels, rather than dental treatment. Fortunately Helen had decided at the outset that throughout my treatment nothing would be done which would make it impossible for me to change my mind and go on to have implants, and so finally I went ahead. In October Julian began work on the implants and in July Helen installed the final crowns.

My teeth now look and feel better than at any time I can remember. The co-ordinated approach to treatment, broken down into stages, and with the cost of each stage set out, made what initially seemed like an overwhelming undertaking, proceed smoothly. For the first time in nearly fifty years my mouth is my own again.”