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JORDAN PYSZ / iFoundMyDoctor.com
Colleen says the work of an Illinois dentist in 2013 squashed her career as a trumpeter by changing her bite and embouchere. As a result, she “hated” dentists. Years later, she discovered Dr. Farag through her insurance provider. She has been very pleased with Dr. Farag’s work, which included the fitting of a same-day crown. In her mind, Dr. Farag is “the best dentist in Southwest Florida.”
One of Colleen Dold’s most cherished keepsakes is a page of sheet music autographed by Doc Severinsen, the trumpeter best known for leading the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
“I met him and actually had a trumpet lesson with him before a performance he did in Central Illinois in 2007,” Colleen explains. “After we went through the music together, he signed it, and I later framed it.”
Severinsen and Chuck Mangione are the two trumpeters who most influenced Colleen to give up a 44-year nursing career and resume the professional pursuit of music that she abandoned shortly after graduating from high school.
“I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and around the age of 18, I went down to California and spent a year playing in some jazz bands,” Colleen details. “But the competition for jobs was so great that I decided I needed to pursue something else.
“So, I went back to Canada and went into nursing. Even after that, though, I always kept up with my music and played in a few quartets and things like that. Finally, after my kids turned 18, I decided to continue my music career.”
In addition to playing in jazz bands and quartets, Colleen played weddings and funerals and even entered a PhD program for chamber music. It was around that time, though, in 2013, that her music career was suddenly squashed – by the work of a dentist.
“I had a few little chips in my front teeth, on the top and bottom, and my dentist in Illinois recommended that I get veneers,” Colleen explains. “I didn’t really know what veneers were, but after she explained it to me, I said, Well, OK.
“So, we did the veneers, and my dentist assured me that they would not affect the way I played my trumpet. But they did. In a big way. They completely changed my bite and embouchure.”
An embouchure is the way the lips, facial muscles, tongue and teeth work together to play a wind instrument, and the changes that came as a result of Colleen’s dental work were such that she says she “couldn’t make a sound with my trumpet anymore.”
“So, the dentist shaved down the veneers,” Colleen relates. “But then, one of the veneers fell off. After that, she took the rest of the veneers off and put crowns on, but my teeth have never been the same, and for 2½ years, I could not play a note.
“The work that dentist did changed everything, including my trust in dentists. After all of that, I just hated them.”
Last March, after an upper molar began to bother her incessantly, Colleen was forced to put aside her mistrust and hatred for dentists. That proved difficult, in part because the dentist she selected failed to focus specifically on the most bothersome tooth.
“She wanted to do more crowns and veneers, and the price list she gave me was astronomical,” Colleen says. “After that, I got a list of dentists from my insurance provider and just picked one randomly. That’s how I wound up at Port Charlotte Dental Care.”
One and Done
Port Charlotte Dental Care is the practice of Joseph H. Farag, DMD, who first met with Colleen last October. Soon after, he determined that Colleen’s bothersome upper molar could be saved by removing the decay, shaving it down and fitting it with a crown.
Though hesitant, Colleen accepted the recommendation, in part because Dr. Farag explained that restorations at Port Charlotte Dental Care can be completed in one day with the aid of CEREC®, or Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics.
CEREC uses a technology known as CAD/CAM (computer-aided design and manufacturing) to produce digital dental impressions and ceramic restorations such as crowns, veneers, inlays and onlays in a matter of minutes.
Without CEREC, tooth restorations typically require patients to visit the dentist twice, once for preparation of the tooth and the fitting of a temporary crown and again for the fitting of the permanent crown.
CEREC eliminates the need for a second visit by allowing for the production of the permanent crown in a fraction of the time needed for an outside lab to make the crown. It also allows for superior results.
The reason is that CEREC allows for the use of biocompatible and natural-looking ceramic materials, including lithium disilicate and zirconia.
In addition, the crowns are monolithic, meaning they are formed from a single block of material. That creates several natural advantages over standard crowns that are typically made of porcelain fused to metal. For starters, monolithic crowns are stronger. They are also more aesthetically pleasing with no metal collar at the top.
“These new materials also mimic the enamel translucency of natural teeth because they allow light to transfer in and out of the tooth,” Dr. Farag notes. “Patients like that because it looks more like a real tooth, even up close.
“With the old porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns, your teeth might look good from far away. But if you get close, you start to notice that there’s something different about them. They don’t look as real or as good.
“These new crowns are milled through a Dental Milling Unit in about 20 minutes. The technology also allows us to really dial in the shade match, so the crown has the same color as the rest of the patient’s teeth. It’s all customized, and Colleen was very happy with the outcome.”
JORDAN PYSZ / iFoundMyDoctor.com
Colleen Dold
But Wait, There’s More
Colleen was so pleased that she immediately entrusted Dr. Farag to perform a dental bonding of her lower front teeth, which were showing new signs of wear.
Also referred to as composite or tooth bonding, dental bonding is done to enhance the appearance of cracked or chipped teeth, which are treated with a tooth-colored resin.
“Dr. Farag bonded the two bottom teeth beside my veneers, and it was such a minor thing that didn’t take any time at all,” Colleen says. “And now, looking back at it, that was probably all I needed right from the very beginning from the dentist I saw up in Illinois.
“If she had just bonded my teeth the way Dr. Farag did instead of doing veneers and crowns and all that stuff, well, I still would’ve had my music career. I’m sure of that, so I really appreciate Dr. Farag and the way he works with patients.
“I’ve always had a fear of dentists, but I felt very safe with Dr. Farag. He’s so gentle, and I get the feeling he doesn’t do this for the money. He does this to help people like me, and I think he’s the best dentist in Southwest Florida.”
Dr. Farag earned that distinction from Colleen by also fitting her with a night guard that she wears while sleeping. The night guard is custom designed to protect Colleen’s teeth from the grinding that likely caused many of the cracks and chips.
“My experience with Dr. Farag was so great that I wish I somehow could have seen him right from the very beginning because he does only what’s necessary, and he’s good at it,” Colleen concludes. “He’s gentle and personable, and I absolutely love him.
-Colleen
“In fact, I’m so happy with Dr. Farag that I’ve thought about going back to him and asking him if there’s anything he can do to fix the teeth that the other dentist tried to repair and give me my original bite back so that I can play my trumpet the way I used to.
“I don’t know if anything like that is even possible, but I can tell you this: Dr. Farag is the only dentist that I would trust to take these crowns and veneers off and try to give me my original bite back. The only one.”
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