Extreme Makeover
Adrian Knowles
ADRIAN KNOWLES WASN’T looking for an extreme makeover when he sat in Remuera dentist Michael Kan’s chair two years ago, but he did know something extreme needed to be done. Decades of neglect had left him with only one tooth he could chew with — and it had become wobbly.
Knowles had long since stopped smiling. "Or if I did it would be a little smirk. People have pointed out to me that they thought I was either incredibly sad or very grumpy. I just did everything I could to avoid opening my mouth."
His dream was to be able to smile with confidence. Other dentists had tried but gave up.
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before treatment |
after treatment |
From there they came up with a plan: it began with a gum treatment, which removed calculus (tartar) and plaque; then came a set of functional orthodontic plates — a bit like dentures — to open up Knowles’ jaw and correct his crossbite, paired with a set of relatively unobtrusive ceramic braces at the front to straighten the teeth and create room for the implants. Knowles then had a bone graft in his top jaw and a sinus lift, which pushed his sinus cavity up, and enabled new bone to grow. Eight implants were drilled into his jaw to hold his new teeth, a root canal problem was fixed and titanium posts were implanted to strengthen his weakened original teeth. That completed the groundwork.
Kan then set about fixing Knowles’ “bite” — to make his upper and lower teeth meet — which involved building up his teeth with composite material. He used a laser to reshape and remove unwanted soft tissue. Then the implants were crowned, Knowles’ eight amalgam fillings were replaced with ceramic inlays, eight porcelain veneers and two crowns were bonded on, and a four-tooth bridge was inserted to cover a large gap.
"I was amazed at what they could do," says Knowles. "Every time I went there it was like an episode of Space 1999 — they’d pull out a new gizmo. I had no idea of the extraordinary complexity of the problems and how they’d solve them."
