Dr. Joshua Golden DDS, MPH understands the positive impact volunteering one’s time and services can have on a community. Outside of operating his practice in Sunrise, FL, Dr. Golden offers his services to several local access-to-care agencies, helping people with their dental needs. That is why he felt an immediate connection to Kenya Smith, a Miami, Florida barber who contacted him about the condition of his teeth.
Kenya Smith has always been more than just a barber to his clients. He is a counselor, listening to their life difficulties and offering advice. He is a father figure, who provides free haircuts to those who can’t afford one. And outside of work he is a volunteer, offering his free time to help others in the community who are in need.
The one thing Kenya wouldn’t often do is smile. Periodontal disease early in life caused the loss of several of his teeth and over the years left the remainder decayed and loose. Often embarrassed to smile, he would shy away from pictures and cover his mouth when laughing. “I would see other people smile and their teeth were so nice and beautiful, and I would wonder why my teeth don’t look like that.”
A friend of Kenya’s recommended that he check out “thegoldendentist” on Instagram. Watching the Instagram video posts, Kenya was struck by Dr. Golden’s warm and welcoming manner and felt an instant connection to him and his team and at ease about contacting him concerning his situation. When the two met at Dr. Golden’s office, it was apparent Kenya needed a denture to restore his smile and ability to function naturally. But it was the conversation between the two that struck a note in Golden’s heart, who was born and raised in Miami’s Liberty City. “After learning more about Keyna and what he does to give back to his community, my team and I figured it was only fair to donate a new Ivotion Digital Denture as a way to say ‘Thank you’,” said Dr. Golden.
Within a few days, Kenya was scheduled for an appointment to extract the remainder of his teeth and be fitted with an immediate “healing” denture for 6 months before being fit with a permanent Ivotion digital denture.
For fabrication of the intermediate and final dentures, Ivoclar Inc. enlisted the help of Sakr Dental Arts located in Winter Park, Florida. “We use Ivotion Digital Dentures for 100% of our immediate denture cases,” says owner Dany Sakr. “We digitally design the denture and then let the machine mill the monolithic single-disc base and teeth in one continuous milling cycle. When the denture comes out of the milling machine there is so little work to be done to it, it is really such an amazing product.”
When Kenya returned for the final denture try-in appointment, it was the only appointment needed. “Once I placed that denture, I did not have to adjust the denture at all,” said Dr. Golden . “When you can place a denture like that, that is a true practice builder. And Kenya’s reaction to getting that new smile was priceless. You could see in his eyes he was back. I am extremely ecstatic about the Ivotion denture. Not only did we surpass the esthetics of the immediate denture but the Ivotion denture teeth and gingival shade are so realistic.”
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