2012年11月 2日
It was even better than I had imagined (45 year old man, Fukuoka)
We received a thank you mail from a patient who had received telescope treatment from us a few days prior. We were very happy to hear about his joyful experience. Thank you for the mail. m(__)m
Dear Dr. Yuriko Inaba, from Inaba Dental Office,
Hello. Thank you so much for your help the other day.
At first, there was a slight awkward feeling in my mouth, but as each day passes, it lessens and all I keep thinking to myself is, 'Wow! These things are great!"
They are even better than I expected. I truly am happy to have found such a wonderful treatment and to have had you and your team take care of me.
At first when I finally acknowledged that I needed dentures (up until then the roots of my teeth that were supporting my crowns were almost completely gone) I was told to consider implants. The more I searched the more it became difficult to retain the idea that I should try to preserve what is left of my roots. But I was also worried about the trouble of talking in front of people, and having to consider what I eat with my dentures at the time. These worries were never-ending... It was quite depressing.
My dentures used to fly out when I sneezed (like a comedy routine), and I remember when I was a child in the countryside seeing an elderly relative washing food particles from his dentures (at the time I was thoroughly disgusted with the scene). Never did I think that someday that person would be me.
With all these things in my head, I happened to stumble upon your homepage (I bookmarked it) and read everything I could from beginning to end. I decided that your treatment method is my best chance and I came in directly to hear an explanation of the procedure, which further strengthened my resolve (before that, I had gone to a hospital offering implants and heard what they had to say just in case).
I am truly pleased. The dentures themselves are amazing. And the dentists and staff at Inaba Dental Office are also wonderful. The environment produced by the confidence in the staff suggests that 'these dentures are top quality so we would like you to continue to use them long into the future'. It is enough so that no one has to say anything directly. You can sense everyone's dedication to their craft (I even felt like it was my responsibility to take care of my new dentures). What's more is that after having undergone treatment I have become more grateful for my dental hygienist (At first, after I had been instructed on how to brush the area between my teeth and tried it out, my gums were bleeding all over..."Is this really OK?" I wondered. But after continued brushing, I was impressed to see how strong my gums have become).
It's a little off topic but I have to say that when I heard that the telescope system itself was first developed in Germany, I immediately thought, "Oh, that makes sense".
This is because I actually ride a motorcycle (a large one). Many of my biker friends often say, "BMW motorcycles are the best". The reason why they say this is because you can still get bike parts from 30 year old models (of course the bikes from that time are out of production). And the bikes themselves are designed so that they reach peak performance after riding about 30,000 kilometers. These are just a few of the reasons these bikes are the best
I'm sure that you are aware that Germans and Japanese have different ideas concerning how to take care of things. Germans believe, "How long can I continue to use the same product?" (I bet that you never expected something as interesting as a patient deciding to get telescope dentures because of his motorcycle hobby.)
While undergoing treatment, I thought more and more strongly, "Implants may be OK too, but this (telescope system) is something I want people around me to know more about".
No matter what, people are always going to associate dentures with 'elderly people' and also look at implants as some type of 'crowns' used to buy time.
The truth is that people from my generation and ones prior really only respond to, "Actually, they are false teeth", or "I got implants", with, "Oh. Is that so?" But when it comes to dentures they may say, "What!" (I usually never tell anyone by my own volition, but should they ask...).
But, as for me, upon searching and looking into all of my options, the conclusion that I came to was, "If the foundations of my teeth (the gums and bone) are still very strong, then there is no reason for me to have to go through any further tooth loss."
I am not an expert so I could be wrong, but I was often told that I should have my teeth removed because puss was building up in my gums. I used to think, if I just need 1 or 2 then implants would be OK but if I need many implants, they may provide a temporary solution, but I couldn't trust them to last a few years or tens of years down the road? I really didn't want to imagine how terrible that time would be when it came (the image of my gums thinning out and the linking parts of my implants becoming visible, and of course all of them coming loose). In order to learn more about this I went in for an explanation before actually requesting the procedure. I was only told the conditions under which I could get implants. I went to a university hospital in Fukuoka and they told me that I would need to quit smoking before they would treat me with implants.
This is where telescope dentures are truly perfect for me. I heard that the telescope system is made 'considering that more teeth may be lost in the future' and that they can 'be adjusted or reprocessed for continued use', and, 'you can sleep with them in'. I would like to recommend to anyone who is considering dentures to pick up Inaba Dental Office's pamphlet and read up on the subject (I also recommend that you read the whole homepage. It was interesting and informative).
If you are planning to advertise this system to the younger generation (you know they are really good at spreading information through word of mouth...), I would be happy to show up and share. Also, (I'm about to go off on another tangent...) I think telescope system treatment is a much better gift than some expensive trinket for elderly parents who have trouble eating with their own full dentures. Gift your parents with these dentures to really express filial piety (this gift really would be about their health).
But, really (you must be thinking that I have turned this page into my own blog!) my experience has taught me what is good about the telescope system, and conversely, what is not so good about insurance-covered dentures. Even the dentist from Fukuoka told me straight, "This is all we can do with insurance. If you want anything better then you should look into implants or something else".
He also told me, "Nowadays the patient must pay 30 percent of the cost. It used to be 10 percent and then 20 percent. Back then patients would have new dentures made as soon as they decided theirs didn't fit anymore. That's why you can still see 'denture mailboxes' at the town hall."
Let me say in closing that I am looking forward to seeing you continuously for maintenance and I am very grateful for the treatment.
Mr. K.T., 45 year old man, Fukuoka
*Cases introduced on the website are completely unique to the patients and actual treatment periods and methods vary for each patient.
