A Winning Smile - Cary Family Dental

Written By Jennifer Baron | Photographed By Jonathan Fredin
AW
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inning Sm
What
would you do
if you won the lottery?
Surely, many of us have thought about
it, but how many of us have written it down on a wish list,
every year, for the last five years?
Grace Love has. What started out as her son’s Christmas list evolved into “Mom’s Wish List,” things the single
mother of two would do if she ever won the lottery. Dental
repair was always near the top.
Well, guess what? Love just hit the jackpot! She is
the winner of this year’s Cary Smile Makeover with Dr.
Allan Acton of Cary Family Dental, and she couldn’t be
more thrilled.
“I’ve never won anything, ever,” laughed Love. “I still
feel completely overwhelmed this whole thing has happened
“What really impressed
me was how optimistic
(Dr. Acton) is. It’s just like,
‘We can do this.’”
– Grace Love
because it’s something I wanted for so long and never really
thought would happen. I was just kind of resigned to living
with what I had.”
That’s because there were always other people’s needs to
tend to and other health issues that took precedence. Love
battled (and beat) cancer and for 20 years she suffered from
debilitating migraines from the time she woke up in the
morning to the time she passed out at night.
“Life is just miserable with those migraines and nothing else mattered,” recalled Love.
Now, as an empty nester, Love has been making a
40 September/October 2010
dedicated
effort to put her
own health and well-being
first. She is managing her migraines, losing
weight and finally getting a smile she can feel good about.
“This is really the right time for me because now I’m
ready to take care of my teeth the way I always should have.
It won’t be a wasted effort on his part,” Love promised.
For the second year, Dr. Acton and his staff are donating
their time, skills and resources to improve smiles and change
lives. For Dr. Acton, being involved with Cary Magazine on
the Cary Smile Makeover contest is an opportunity to get a
break from the routine dental work they do every day.
“It’s nice to actually be able to transform someone and
affect the way they feel about themselves,” said Dr. Acton.
“A lot of times we’re just fixing a broken tooth, and with her
it felt like we were fixing a broken confidence.”
The first thing Dr. Acton had to “fix” was Love’s
perception and fear of dentists. Her dental history is
traumatic, to say the least. Her aversion to dentists started when she was 7 years old and had eight permanent
teeth pulled with a less-than-effective local anesthetic
and continued until a rare tongue slashing incident just
a few years ago. She had had such bad luck with dentists
she often wished she didn’t have any teeth at all. But Dr.
Acton took it slow, did a lot of listening and answering
questions and eventually built a comfort level that allowed them to move forward. Love confirms Dr. Acton’s
positive attitude and ever-present smile went a long way
in calming her nerves.
“What really impressed me was how optimistic he is,”
said Love. “It’s just like, ‘We can do this.’”
Designing a New Smile
Some bad fillings and a hodgepodge of dental work
continued on page 42
Grace Love and
Dr. Allan Acton
Saks Fifth Avenue
matched Love with
a Tahari indigo blue
suit that made her
blue eyes pop and
a pair of Stuart
Weitzman slingback
shoes. Swagger Gifts
accented the outfit
with May earrings by
Towne and Reese.
Tanas gave her an
updated look with
a new hairstyle and
makeup.
Cary Magazine 41
continued from page 40
throughout the years left Love with a smile she was terribly self conscious about, but Dr. Acton assessed the situation and came up with a plan.
“I thought that her teeth looked really dark, and they weren’t the right size or shape,” explained Dr. Acton. “But she had a beautiful smile and I knew if we could redo her teeth her smile would shine through.”
Dr. Acton ended up replacing all 12 of her top teeth by using four sets of bridges. To help
minimize her “gummy smile” he used a laser to
cauterize away the gum tissue and expose more
tooth for a bigger smile.
In choosing the shape and color of her
new teeth, Love consulted not only Dr. Acton
but also friends and even celebrity magazines
to determine what would look best and most
natural in her mouth. So she had a bit of fun
– Dr. Allan Acton
designing her new smile. But the biggest reward for doctor and patient came with the final results.
“I am usually pretty picky, and it exceeded my expectations,” said Dr. Acton. “Her teeth look
awesome. They have a really natural look to them.”
“I feel like a new woman,” gushed Love. “I feel like it takes 10 years off of me!”
There’s no doubt for a woman who felt like 20 years of daily migraines and the struggles of single
parenthood showed on her in every way, this new smile has given her a lot more than new teeth.
“Now I just feel younger, more energetic, more confident and more positive about life,” said Love.
Her winning smile is proof she really did hit the jackpot. t
“Her teeth look
awesome. They have
a really natural look
to them.”
42 September/October 2010
Grace Love before her
smile makeover.
A mock up of Love’s new teeth.
Dr. Allan Acton, of Cary Family
Dental, works on Love’s smile
makeover.
Love points to the words
“dental work” at the top of her
bucket list.
After seeing her new temporary
set of teeth, she embraces Dr.
Acton as dental assistant Taryn
Dudley looks on.
Special thanks to Cary Family
Dental (www.carydental.com),
Swagger Gifts (www.swaggergifts.
com), Saks Fifth Avenue (www.
saks.com) and Tanas Hair Design
(www.tanasdesign.com), who
made this makeover possible.
Cary Magazine 43