Norman Levin wanted nothing more than to once again take a gargantuan bite out of life.
Specifically, the 70-year-old Newtown Square resident wanted to bite into one of his all-time favorite foods: a hoagie. He wanted to be able to champ his teeth into the toasted bun and vigorously munch through the thick layers of assorted meats and cheeses without fear of his troublesome teeth causing him pain or his dental crowns shaking loose or falling out.
As Levin had done throughout much of his dentally challenged life, he sought out dentists and oral surgeons for help. Some wanted to perform root canals to save his teeth, and all quoted him prices well beyond his means. He wasn’t interested, as he’d been down that road before, with limited success. Exasperated, he was reaching the end of his rope.
Then, last year, a friend recommended Dr. Cynthia Trentacosti, D.D.S., M.S., an oral surgeon with Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associates of Chester County Ltd.
“Going to Dr. Trentacosti is the best thing I’ve done in my life,” Levin says. “She removed my bad teeth and replaced them with implants in only two hours. I had the surgery in her West Chester office during the day, and then she called me at home that night to find out how I was doing and if I needed anything. That showed me she cared about me as a person, not just as a patient.”
Completely healed in a few months, and smiling with a new set of dental implants and a price he found easy to swallow, Levin was back at the hoagie shop enjoying life again.
Levin’s is one of countless success stories of people who have entered Dr. Trentacosti’s office and exited with a smile of satisfaction. Whether a patient requires wisdom-teeth removal, dental extractions, bone grafting, oral pathology evaluation or even a procedure as involved as orthognathic jaw surgery to correct an improper bite or realign incorrectly positioned jaws, Dr. Trentacosti and the team of board-certified oral surgeons at Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associates of Chester County can address those needs with a combined 97 years of experience.
“To be able to restore a person’s smile and their quality of life is an unbelievable feeling,” Dr. Trentacosti says. “To see the look on their faces when we give them back their smile and their ability to chew and enjoy life gives me great satisfaction.”
Dr. Trentacosti has been providing care to Chester County residents since 1994. She is a graduate of Ursinus College and The Medical College of Virginia, and received her training in oral and maxillofacial surgery at The Ohio State University. She is boarded by the National Board of Dental Anesthesia and the American Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery.
Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associates of Chester County was the first such office in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware area to seek out and receive certification by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, which ensures it is providing the best practices in health care and complies with stringent, nationally recognized standards.
Dr. Trentacosti is particularly proud of the work she and her associates—Fredrick C. Disque, D.M.D., James F. Gustainis, D.M.D., and Amin Kazemi, D.M.D., M.D.—have performed in the area of dental implants.
“We were one of the first practices in the area back in 1986 to perform implants,” she says. “Dr. Disque was one of the first in the area to place a dental implant. Since then, we’ve placed more than 7,500 implants; we have so much experience. People are very surprised by how easy the procedure is and the benefit they get from it. It makes them feel whole again.
“Also in our offices, we have the ability to perform digital intraoral CAT scans and other dental X-rays, which makes it convenient for the patient to have all the work done right in our office.”
Sometimes patients interested in having dental implants have inadequate bone structure due to previous extractions, gum disease or injuries. Dr. Trentacosti can address those concerns by grafting bone obtained either from a tissue bank or from the patient’s own jaw to create an acceptable implant site.
“We will do whatever it takes,” she says, “to give the patient the smile and result they came to us for.”
Lindsey Haggerty is one of those patients. This 16-year-old from Lancaster suffered from a large overbite, which left her feeling self-conscious. Her orthodontist recommended Dr. Trentacosti, who performed an upper jaw expansion. Seven months later, she moved Haggerty’s lower jaw forward to correct the overbite.
“Dr. Trentacosti did a fabulous job,” Haggerty says. “She made me look great. So many people compliment me on how I look now. She changed my entire face. … She couldn’t have been more wonderful. She’s changed my life.”
Phil Gianficaro is an award-winning writer based in Doylestown.
Rob Hall is a photographer from Plumsteadville.
Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associates of Chester County
Web: www.oralsurgerychestercounty.com
E-mail: info@oralsurgerychestercounty.com
Locations:
West Chester
600 E. Marshall Street, Suite 106
West Chester, PA 19380
Phone: 610-431-2161
Fax: 610-431-2173
Kennett Square
630 Cope Road
Kennett Square, PA 19348
Phone: 610-444-2818
Fax: 610-431-2173
