Delivering dental miracles

Published 3:26 am Tuesday, December 6, 2005

ABC isn’t the only home for extreme makeovers.

Dr. Brad Bynum, a dentist for 24 years, and his staff at North Valdosta Dental Care, 802 Northwood Park Drive, are making people’s smiles look better everyday by using the latest techniques in cosmetic dentistry.

“You can start just with whitening and you can move up to bonding and then you can do veneers or you can replace missing teeth,” Bynum said. “A lot of times people have dentures that look old and bad. You can really make grandmother look good, too.”

Bynum said people should go through a complete exam before any work on their mouth is done.

“People who desire to improve their mouth would need a complete exam where you took the necessary X-rays, models of their teeth, photographs and look at what can be done,” he said. “Sometimes it’s just whitening, sometimes it’s bonding a little chip, sometimes it’s just smoothing the rough edges, sometimes it’s doing the veneers and sometimes it’s doing an implant. It takes a good plan to do the makeover. It can range from the very simple to the very, very complex. You can’t look at somebody and tell.”

Bynum said there are options available for every price range.

“Lots of things can be done and sometimes there’s compromises,” he said. “Sure you can have it ideal for a lot of money but maybe you say I can’t afford that, let’s make it better. Maybe whitening and some bonding and doing some chips won’t make it perfect, but it makes them a lot better than they were and it’s something they can afford. So almost everyone can afford to have something done to make them look better.”

Bynum said the least expensive procedure is whitening at around $300 and for more money people can get veneers for about $1,000 per tooth. He said costs can go up to $40,000 to $50,000 if every tooth has work done on it.

“People think nothing of paying $25,000, $30,000, $40,000 for a car and in five years it’s worn out, and your teeth, you get one set for the rest of your life. It’s a priority thing.

Bynum said the first thing people should consider is whitening.

Whitening

There are two types of whitening procedures, an at-home system and an in-office system, Bynum said.

He recommends the at-home system.

“The at-home system works better if you have a dentist make a custom made tray that will fit over your teeth, and it holds the gel against the teeth much better than the boil and bite like a football mouth piece,” he said. “The Crest White Strips work good, too. It’s all basically peroxide.”

Bynum said the in-office system is quicker but many people get sensitivity in their teeth.

“Some people get dramatic results and love it,” he said. “Other people have a lot of sensitivity, and it doesn’t change that much and they’re not happy, but pretty much everyone is happy with the take home if they just be patient.

Bynum said people will not have to wait long to see results with the at-home system.

“Usually in two to three weeks (teeth) will get just as white and you don’t have the sensitivity, and for half the cost you get the same result.”

After whitening, Bynum said there are many different procedures that will improve people’s smiles.

Implants

Implants are a good alternative to dentures for replacing missing teeth, Bynum said.

A titanium screw is put into the jawbone. After the bone grows to it in six to nine months, a ceramic restoration is built around it and made the color of the remaining teeth.

Bynum said people with dentures can also use implants.

“(A patient) had her teeth pulled and her dentures wouldn’t stay in, so we put those implants up there and then you make a denture that has a snap-on deal that snaps on to (the implants) so they can smile and their dentures won’t come off.”

Veneers

Veneers are great for closing gaps or covering discolored teeth that didn’t respond to whitening, Bynum said.

“They are a thin porcelain like paneling,” he said. “It’s like an artificial fingernail like a Lee press on nail that goes over the front of the tooth.”

Bynum believes a great-looking smile can change a person’s life.

“Occasionally somebody has a bad experience at the dentist and they choose not to go and their teeth get really neglected, and then they start hiding their smile and they grow a mustache or they won’t smile or they won’t wear make-up or they don’t want to draw attention to themselves because their teeth look bad,” he said. “If they can ever get their teeth fixed it really kinda changes them. It’ll change who you are as far as how you perceive yourself.”

Bynum credits ABC’s “Extreme Makeover” with the increase in cosmetic work that he has done.

“I think this Extreme Makeover Program has really been the best thing that has ever happened to dentistry,” he said. “It’s taken us from Dr. Pain to being the person who can really make a difference in people’s lives and make people look better and feel better about themselves and not just being somewhere that you dread going, but somewhere you look forward to going because it can change who you are and how you relate to the world around you.”

Bynum took his entire staff to attend “Las Vegas Dental Extravaganza,” a meeting hosted by Dr. William Dorfman, the dental expert on ABC’s “Extreme Makeover.”

“We had a great time,” Bynum said. “(Dr. Dorfman) spent the whole time showing us the plastic surgeries that they did. He was saying that Ozzy Osbourne was one of his patients. He said when you give laughing gas to people you have a light, medium and a heavy level. He said we have an Ozzy level.”

Bynum said people should talk to their dentists and see what they can do to make their smiles better.

“Most every dentist can make your smile look better, and I recommend people ask their dentist first and if they don’t have a dentist they can ask their co-workers and friends about who to go to or they can find a dentist by word or mouth,” he said. “That’s still the best way to find somebody, by word or mouth.”