Think about your morning routine. If you’re like a lot of people, once you get up, you start making coffee, and then you munch on some cereal, toast, or maybe a small breakfast bar before you grab a cup and rush out the door. Now, imagine you had to take whatever you wanted to eat, put it in a blender, and turn it into mush, because you can’t actually chew it. This was the reality for Sharon Tillotta, a Pasadena woman who was missing most of her teeth. The remaining ones were either broken or failing, and she didn’t have the funds to replace them because her husband was spending a lot of time in the hospital due to both kidney and heart disease. She was in a desperate situation that didn’t seem to have an end, and that’s when Bill Spencer, Dr. Terri Alani, and our own Dr. Steve Koo decided to help.
A Helping Hand
Feeling like she had no other option, Sharon decided to write to Bill Spencer, an investigative reporter at KPRC2 Houston, who leads the well-known “Spencer Solves It” segment on the news. In it, Spencer connects people like Sharon to professionals willing to donate their services to solve their problems. Sharon’s story really spoke to Spencer, so he partnered with local dentist Dr. Terri Alani, who was more than eager to help. Dr. Alani said that Sharon’s mouth was a “disaster area,” and she knew she couldn’t handle the case alone, so she contacted Dr. Koo. He didn’t hesitate to provide everything that Sharon needed, free of charge.
The Road to a New Smile
Sharon needed a full denture to replace all of her upper teeth and a partial denture to replace her back teeth on the bottom. This would enable her to finally eat solid food again, not to mention restore her confidence when meeting and talking to people. Step one was for Dr. Koo to remove her ailing teeth up top, which was no easy feat because her gums were severely infected and inflamed. Afterward, almost immediately, the constant dental pain Sharon had been struggling with for years was gone. Once she had healed, Dr. Alani was able to give Sharon the custom-made dentures that would change her life. In the video below, you can see her priceless reaction when viewing her new smile for the first time.
What We Can All Learn
Altogether, Sharon’s dental work was worth over $12,000, but Dr. Alani and Dr. Koo both happily donated their time and skills for free. What we can all learn from Sharon is that taking care of our teeth today can save us a LOT of trouble in the future. And, if you need any type of oral surgery, the doctor that local dentists know they can rely on to provide excellent care can be found right here at Piney Point Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery.
If your smile is in need of help similar to Sharon’s, we hope her story inspires you to seek out the care you deserve. The team at Piney Point OMS is able to provide all types of surgical services, and we always go above and beyond to ensure our treatments are easily affordable for every patient. To learn more about your options with us, give our team a call today.