Dave Burt is getting ready to take a new bite out of life.
The 100 Mile Free Press delivery driver said his new dentures, which he won last year through Lake City Denture Clinic’s Smiles for Christmas campaign, have changed his life.
“It’s excellent, they look good and I’ve been getting compliments,” Burt said. “I always smiled before but now you’re not looking into the abyss when I smile.”
Getting the teeth was an easy process for Burt, who said the staff at Lake City Denture, especially denturist Roy Jaroudi, were kind and professional.
“I could pick the teeth, the colour and whatever else but I figured Roy knew what he was doing so I just let him do it.”
Burt said he almost cried when he got the last of his teeth removed in preparation for his dentures. The situation made him realize that the mouth pain he had experienced for the last several years had affected his state of mind.
Although he is still getting used to his new teeth, Burt said he’s started to enjoy some of his old favourite foods again. Last week he had his first burger in years and is excited to dig into a bucket of KFC and a bag of sunflower seeds.
“It’s funny, it’s a bit of a process to learn how to talk and eat with them again. At the start, I felt like Bugs Bunny and talked like Daffy Duck, but that’s gotten a lot better.”
Burt said he hopes that Jaroudi and his team keep holding their Smiles for Christmas campaign. “Every little small act of kindness helps and if we all did that, it’d probably be a better world to live in.”
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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