ROCK STAR Dental Patient JENNIFER JONES - Part 2
When Jennifer asked me to make her smile look better, I was both humbled and excited. Jennifer was by far the most famous dental patient I had ever treated - therefore I wanted to ensure that the smile makeover process was diagnostically comprehensive and that the treatment plan would achieve the final aesthetic result that Jennifer was looking for.
The Comprehensive Smile Design Process
As with all of our cosmetic dentistry patients, my dental team did a complete smile design analysis for Jennifer. This involved all of the following:
- performing a comprehensive extra-oral and intra-oral dental examination, including a complete assessment of Jennifer’s temporomandibular joints (TMJs);
- taking a full set of dental x-rays to ensure that teeth and bone were healthy;
- doing a digital scan of Jennifer’s upper and lower teeth and analyzing her bite on a dental articulator, to ensure that any aesthetic modifications to her teeth would be functionally supported; and
- taking a full set of dental photographs and having a detailed interview with Jennifer to fully understand her cosmetic dentistry needs and desires.
A Commitment to the Smile
After a comprehensive diagnostic assessment was completed for Jennifer, I presented several cosmetic dentistry treatment options to Jennifer. With her upper rotated and crooked left lateral incisor being the chief complaint of her aesthetic dentistry concerns, Jennifer chose to go with an orthodontic treatment plan. There was one major problem with this option: Jennifer lived 5 hours away from Ottawa in Barrie!!! Due to the need for re-evaluation appointments throughout orthodontic treatment, I explained to Jennifer that she would need to come back to my clinic on an every 6-8 week basis. At the time her answer was simply, “I’ll make it work.” [Having gotten to know her through orthodontic treatment and my consultation work with curling AND having read her autobiography “Rock Star: My Life On and Off the Ice” there is NO challenge too great for Jennifer Jones!]. During the course of the orthodontic treatment, Jennifer moved back for a 1-year term with her daughters to her hometown of Winnipeg. So… Jennifer now holds the distance record for travel from home to my dental clinic: for one orthodontic re-evaluation appointment, Jennifer FLEW OUT from Winnipeg to Ottawa!!!
A Legendary Friendship
After a 12-month process, Jennifer achieved the smile that she had been searching for her whole life. Here are the Before-and-After photographs to prove it:
It still boggles my mind that the greatest women’s curler of all time decided to TRUST me to provide dental care for her daughter and herself. But more than this, the most beautiful gift that I have received in the process of providing dental care for Jennifer’s family is the deep-rooted friendship that we now share. Her professional and personal support for my international curling consulting projects has been enormously valuable; outside of curling, we share another common passion: GOLF [more on this in a future Dr. Lee's Diary blogpost]; and I consider her entire family (husband Brent, daughters Bella and Skyla, and mother Carol) like my own. By far, THIS is the most favourite part of my job as a dentist: to build long-term friendships with patients like Jennifer through RELATIONSHIP-BASED Dentistry!
Thank you so much, Jennifer, for allowing me to share your dentistry story with the world. And… for allowing me to be the dentist responsible for the beautiful smile that graces the #1 Bestseller book in Canada: “ROCK STAR, My Life On and Off the Ice”!!! You are truly a legendary rock star - thank you, Jen, for being a friend!