Helen has been a long time patient with Dr. Fryer.
She’s more than just a patient. She’s a friend of the office for sure.
Helen has one of the coolest jobs in the world-she’s an opera singer!
She has spent her entire life singing and performing. On stage, Helen is commanding and confident. She transforms into characters and brings their story to life with her powerful and beautiful voice. We are amazed at how effortless it seems for her-especially since we can barely carry a tune.
However, Helen was not happy with her smile. She especially did not like people seeing her teeth up close. She would often hide her teeth in close up photos and headshots like this one.
But for someone who spends her life in the spotlight, a confident smile is necessary.
Like many people, Helen had some fillings on her front teeth that discolored over time.
Helen also gives voice lessons and it bothered her to show her mouth that closely to students. She was very self-conscious of her smile, something that an opera singer shouldn’t feel. We really wanted to help Helen, because SHE of all people had to be proud of her smile.
Helen and Dr. Fryer came up with a plan to fix her smile in the least intrusive way possible. Dr. Fryer’s philosophy is to use as much as the patient’s natural teeth for the final result. They knew he would eventually do veneers on Helen, but they decided it would be best to do the veneers by removing as little of her natural teeth as possible. In order to make that happen, Dr. Fryer first better aligned her top teeth with a removable Inman Aligner. It’s much easier to prepare teeth for veneers if the teeth are straight. Helen was diligent about wearing her Inman Aligner and in about 4 months, her top teeth with in the right position.
Then, Helen and Dr. Fryer moved on to whitening her teeth. We use the Opalescence Take Home Tooth Whitening System. Dr. Fryer has been using this product for his patients for decades because it works very well. However, tooth whitening solutions will never change the color of existing fillings, crowns, or other dental work. However, Dr. Fryer STILL wanted to whiten her teeth to get all of the OTHER teeth a more uniform in color. Having a more consistent color would make it easier to choose the veneer shades later on.
Once Helen teeth were straightened and whitened, it was time for her veneers. Veneers are a two appointment process with Dr. Fryer. The first appointment is called the “prep” appointment. This is where Dr. Fryer changes the shape of each tooth to be veneered. Remember, since Helen’s teeth were straighter, there was less tooth structure to remove and change. Helen left that day with a temporary veneer. Even the temporary veneer was a huge improvement!
Helen wore that temporary veneer for about 2 weeks and then we had her back to cement the final veneers.
Helen has no reason to doubt her smile any more! She can give voice lessons and not be embarrassed when students are studying her mouth. She can perform on stage with confidence. She has all the reasons in the world to shine!
We are so happy for Helen. She really is one of our favorite people and we feel honored to have helped her through the process.
Take a look at this video to hear her giving Dr. Fryer a voice lesson!
