It’s time for a “reality check” that squarely focuses on the market forces, economic conditions and technical limitations that have prevented millions of Americans, including the most vulnerable senior and SEDI populations, from solving a fundamental oral health care problem.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control notes that 17% of the 65+ population has suffered total tooth loss (has become edentulous). But the Socially and Economically Disadvantaged individuals of this demographic are 3 times more likely (51%) to be edentulous.

A virtually insurmountable wall has been placed along the pathway of life for those who have lost a significant number of their upper and/or lower teeth, whether through disease (dental caries), decay or distress. The height of the wall: the unsubsidized costs, the redundant cross-functional coopetition, and the inherent design limitations of the prosthetics themselves have created a “reality distortion field.” 

Currently, most individuals can only afford dentures as their final restoration. Dentures can be frustrating to use as they can be hard to keep in place, block much of the sensation of taste, and can interfere with normal speech.

There is a better way, once we can transcend the bounds of outmoded thinking.

Truth or Consequences — Artificial Impediments, Truthful Answers

• When it comes to the components of dental implantology, even considering implants made from the most expensive materials, including Titanium implants and teeth milled from a solid block of Zirconia, why do the costs of the leading brands on the market range from $40,000-$80,000 per arch, rendering maxillofacial and mandibular (upper and lower) arch sets, in the high six-figures?  TruBridge™ costs out at around $25K for the entire mouth.

• Why does it require three oral health practices: dental,  periodontal and prosthdontal (or four, if you count an external dental lab) to design and  implement a prosthetic that a primary dentist could singularly produce?  TruBridge™ and the TruRidge™ preservation process can be delivered by general dentists bringing the least invasive and the best possible restoration within reach of SEDI patients.  From x-ray tomography to provisional teeth to the final prosthetic, TruBridge is designed and implemented under one roof. The company is creating licensing opportunities for dentists or periodontists or prosthodontists to be able to do the same —individually, not collectively.

• Why should patients subject themselves to the invasive procedure of reducing or removing part of their jawline, the alveolar bone, and then have an artificial, acrylic gum platform drilled into into the bone while under general anesthesia?  TruBridge™ is a “teeth-only,” periodontia-based (socket-based) system that restores your new teeth to their original locations with no artificial gums, no invasive drilling, and the same local anesthetic a patent receives for a filling.  

The petition at <vps72231.inmotionhosting.com/~trubridge/petition> asks the Medicare and Medicaid Centers of the State of Washington, and all other States across America, to follow in the footsteps of New York State and prioritize the humanitarian causes and livelihood of genuine oral health. These include active employment, proper nutrition, unobstructed speech and breathing, and self-esteem. Just as the electric vehicle (EV) is driving to forever surpass the combustion engine and fossil fuels of yesteryear, so too will periodontal-integrated, original tooth replacement forever supplant the bulky, unnatural appliances currently being marketed at artificially exorbitant prices.

This is a pivotal time for change — from the artificial to the real. The artificial manifestation of the price and cost inflation of implant-based bridges, of artificial gums, and of an artificial appearance with collapsed facial features is that lower-income patients choose to remain on one side of the wall. 

Beyond the low-to-average income earner, another class of citizens is being forced to leave the country for less expensive dental treatment in other countries, a mega-trend  known as “Dental Tourism.”  The water sports, delicious food and ancient relics of Mexico are one thing. We hope you will choose to visit the altogether closer destination of Bainbridge Island, Wa. to restore your truest smile!