I appreciate being able to go out and laugh and not have to cover my mouth.

Elizabeth is a competitive fencer, a designer of environmental homes, and has Crohn’s Disease. She says that she is starting life anew, thanks, in part, to having her mouth restored to health by The Blende Dental Group. Looking at her today, one would not realize how far she has come in the last three months, when she returned to fencing after a near-death experience as the result of Crohn’s Disease.

“Hospitalization became routine for me,” she explains, “Among the many issues I faced, was that I was weak from years of steroids used to combat Crohn’s.”  Not only was her body at risk, but so was her oral health; her teeth were affected by issues that arise with a gastrointestinal disorder. Furthermore, due to the urgency of her medical situation and her delicate condition, traditional dentists could not see her and she was forced to postpone dental work.  “Dentists didn’t want to touch me because I was on immunosuppressant drugs and was very fragile. When you have a medical condition, there is no option beyond finding a dentist who can coordinate very carefully with your doctors as a team.” As a result, her oral health continued to deteriorate.

Finally, she came to the point of being in a true dental emergency: her jaw had become swollen and incredibly painful. (Elizabeth describes dental pain as “its own special kind of hell.”)  She was in the Intensive Care Unit at the California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC), where Dr. Blende is Chief of the Dental Division.  His team examined Elizabeth and determined that the infections in her mouth were causing serious inflammation. Dr. Blende stated, “At the time, due to the extensive deterioration of her oral health as well as her extremely fragile medical condition, she could only be treated using the safety of an operating room, under general anesthesia.”  The Blende Dental Group produced the results she had been hoping to achieve. She says her family could not believe that they had finally come across the solution to their problem, “Who would have known?” they marveled.