Four dentists recently spoke with Becker's about the most interesting cases of their careers.
Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Myron Bromberg, DDS. (Reseda, Calif.): Thirty years ago, a 35-year-old patient came to me for her third second opinion. Most, if not all of her teeth were quite mobile with significant gingival inflammation. The other three dentists told her she must have all of her teeth removed and full dentures placed. I told her she was an enormously heavy bruxer, which had caused her teeth to become mobile with concomitant periodontitis. She disagreed vehemently, stating she did not grind her teeth.
I made a bruxism appliance for her, which she reluctantly wore. Three months later, she wore a hole in it. Many bruxism appliances later, to this day, she has never lost a tooth.
Huzefa Kapadia, DDS. Kapadia Dental Care (Waterford, Mich.) and Detroit Sterling Dental: Approximately five years ago, a guy randomly showed up in my Detroit dental office. He brought his friend in and said he had this large white lesion that looked like cauliflower growing from his lip. It kept getting bigger, but he was too scared to have it examined. They wanted me to prescribe antibiotics. I examined him and told them it was not a bacterial infection or fungal infection. It was most likely squamous cell carcinoma, and it was spreading. He needed to be seen by an oral surgeon immediately. He went to the [emergency room] that day, and they admitted him. Unfortunately, the oral cancer had spread, and he passed away two months later. I've never seen anything like that in my life before, and I've been practicing dentistry for 20 years.
Michael Perpich, DDS. Northland Smiles (Deerwood and Little Falls, Minn.): This patient is someone I've seen in the past year. As I was beginning to treat him, he told me his mother was dying of cancer. Her only two requests for him were to get his teeth fixed and get his driver's license back. He had two badly broken [teeth]. They both needed root canals and crowns. When we got done, he ended up going back home and his mother was so happy he was starting to get his teeth fixed. On the last day he came in, he got his driver's license and he proceeded to tell us that his mom had passed away. He told us how good he felt because he got two things she wanted done. That made all of us almost tear up because he honored his mom's wishes. It made everyone feel pretty good. That's pretty rewarding as a dentist, taking care of people and changing their lives.
Bruce Smoler, DDS. Smoler Smiles Family & Implant Dentistry (Westland, Mich.): One of the most interesting cases was a patient who had loose lower teeth and used Gorilla Glue to help hold her teeth in place. Yes, it happens in dentistry as well as in hair care. This poor woman had used glue to hold her mobile teeth in place for years. It was to the point it affected her bite, her chewing, her overall health and of course self-esteem. We were able to help her. [It was] a lot of in-depth technical work, but the results speak for themselves.