"Dental Trauma Team at Kings College..."

Good afternoon to whom this might concern,

I recently travelled to the USA on holidays. On the first day of my holidays I suffered a nasty fall which I took on my face. I broke one tooth pretty badly (nerves exposed), dislocated two teeth (they were top front teeth moved on an angle to the back, and wouldn't let me close my mouth) and chipped a tooth as well. Not to mention the deeply cut lip and bruises all over my face.

I managed to see a dentist while in USA but he said I would require a root canal for by badly broken tooth and a they need to get a crown and this would take at least two or three weeks. I told him I wasn't from the USA and that I did not have that amount of time in the USA. The Doctor prescribed me antibiotics to handle the journey.

I was really disheartned as I always been very proud of my teeth, and always took good care of them. So besides of losing all my holidays I was also losing my tooth (teeth?).

Changed my flight's date and returned to the UK.

Arriving in London, I visited a dentist straight away, which confirmed the same diagnosis and directed me to Guy's Hospital.

At Guy's Hospital after being checked my the dental emergency team I was sent to Kings College Trauma Team.

At this stage I was seen by the nurse, explained what had happened, he took a look and ask if I still had the tooth that was badly broken. I said yes, and he mentioned that there could be a chance that they could glue it back.

I tried not to get too enthusiastic about it after all it was a chance.

I was then taken into the Restorative dentistry department and seen by the dentist. She had a look at my teeth and said that "in this day and age we don't just do root canals" and said that she would glue my tooth back. She mentioned there was still a chance my tooth could die later on, and they would then perform a root canal or treatment to the root, but the fact that it was given a chance made very happy.

In the care of the dentist and the nurse the nerves of my badly broken tooth were treated (and kept alive), my tooth was glued, my teeth repositionedand and my chipped tooth fixed as well. All in about an hour.

This is absolutely amazing. I'm completely thrilled to have such a team in our hospitals.

Where everyone else only offered one option and kept pushing me around like a hot potatoe. They took me in, offered me more cutting-edge/avant-guard solutions and cared for me in such an short amount of time compared to what I was told before. I honestly feel we have a dream team in Kings College Hospital and they should definitely spread their knowledge around. I believe they should receive a medal and given the chance to spread this knowledge to other teams and dentists. They were absolutely amazing.

Feeling extremely proud and happy to have these guys in our hospitals.

Thank you again to the dentist.

And thank you to the nurse .

My Best Regards,

Raquel Raposo