He has a new smile; system still in decay

From the Toronto Star. Read the entire article by clicking here.
Moira Welsh
Staff Reporter

Jason Jones looks into the mirror and sees a stranger's face smiling.

By the age of 25, Jones had lost all but four teeth because he was poor and could not afford dental care. He became an oddity, a young man with empty, elderly cheeks. It limited his ability to find work and his naturally gregarious ways.

Six months ago, the Star published a story about Jones, highlighting the lack of affordable dental care for low-income people in Ontario. It prompted an enormous response from readers, including a call from Markham dentist, Dr. Raj Singh, who offered to give Jones free dentures and dental implants.

Jones left Singh's office a week ago with the first step in his treatment completed – a full set of dentures and two implants to hold them in place, valued at $10,500. Over the summer, he will be back for more treatments, as Singh uses a state-of-the-art system from a Sweden-based dental implant company to determine whether Jones has enough bone left in his mouth to hold more implants, as anchors for the dentures.