Maria Fort Wayne, IN

What Brought You to the Office?

I was genetically born without my incisors so I had the baby teeth there but when the baby teeth came out there was just an empty space. So I went through braces for a couple of years and they moved my teeth around and I spent about 15 years with a flipper, which was just a retainer with no bar on the front and two teeth hanging from it. I hated it. I blocked out a lot smiling and showing my teeth in pictures.

There was one time where I was at a restaurant and I bit into a sandwich and the teeth broke off. Every time I ate outside of my house I had a fear of that flipper breaking or a tooth falling off, and that happened often. The orthodontist would fix it, they would re-glue it on there, but it was never secure.

What Was the Solution?

Eventually, I needed to get implants so my dentist referred me to Dr. Luga, and said he was one of the best in town. That process started with the implants then the crowns were put on. They wanted to make sure that the space was big enough and that my gums and the bone would support the implants.

Did Missing Teeth Affect Your Day-to-Day Life?

As an adult I would have a lot of, not really being made fun of, but have a lot of questions. I’m a teacher so a lot of my students would ask “why do you have your retainer in?” or “what’s that metal in your mouth?” One day it actually did break off at work and walking around and even having to talk to parents at the end of the day was embarrassing.

Are You Happy You Came to the Fort Wayne Center?

Now with the implants put in I don’t have that thought of the tooth breaking off or the retainer even falling out. I smile a lot more. People compliment my smile in pictures, saying “oh you have a pretty smile.” His name comes out a lot, “it’s Dr. Luga.” He brought my confidence back up, his work is amazing. The first time I met with him he was so detailed in everything that he said. He genuinely cared about how I wanted to feel and how I wanted to look at the end of this.

Do You Still Fear Your Teeth Will Fall Out?

The fact that Dr. Luga was a specialist in facial surgery has really helped my confidence knowing that he was going to do the best job here in town. Now I can walk around every day smiling, knowing that my smile’s there, it’s not going anywhere, it’s not going to fall out. I don’t have the fear that I used to in the past.