Christina Agramonte, 16, is now proud to display her smile, one year after a botched dental procedure by an unlicensed dentist working out of his home in Little Havana. The girl is now receiving free dental restoration from non-profit organization Community Smiles. NBC 6’s Diana Gonzalez has the story.
Christina Agramonte, 16, is now proud to display her smile, a year after a botched dental procedure by an unlicensed dentist working out of his home in Little Havana.
In April of 2012, she could barely open her mouth.
"It was like so painful, so painful," Agramonte said. "Before I could barely eat drink or nothing because everything used to bother me and I used to start crying."
Instead of fixing Agramonte's fractured tooth, Humberto Perez made a mess of her mouth and was eventually arrested for performing the illegal procedure.
She was referred to Community Smiles, a non-profit dental clinic in Miami funded primarily through grants and donations. The dentists who work at the clinic are volunteers and Agramonte's dental restoration is being done for free.
"When she came in she had this horrific, hideous-looking bridge," Dr. David Deporter said. "He cut the teeth down so much that he cut right through where the nerve chamber was on each of the four teeth.
The bad bridge Perez gave her had to be removed along with two teeth. Now, she has temporary crowns and braces, but will need implants when she gets older.
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The teen could have been in much worse condition. An X-ray from 2012 shows an infection Dr. Deporter said could have spread to the teen's brain.
"I'm not really thinking about it, because then it's going to give me bad memories about it," Agramonte said.
