Woodbury Bulletin
Nippodt, Petrungaro help fix teeth of teen victim of violence.
A teenager from the community who lost front teeth in a violent attack is smiling again thanks to the efforts of two area dentists: Dr. Ned A. Nippoldt of Woodbury and Dr. Paul Petrungaro of Lake Elmo, who donated their time and talents to restore the victim's smile.
A little over a year ago, Nippoldt and his staff at The Centre for Distinctive Dentistry decided they would like to donate their time and skills in cosmetic dentistry to help restore the smile of a child whose teeth were injured or lost due to domestic abuse or violence.
Inspired by the Minnesota Dental Associations Give Kids A Smile program, the team developed their own "Tooth Fairy Restore-A-Child's Smile" project.
Through a series of ads in the Woodbury Bulletin, children in the community were invited to participate by either sending a lost baby tooth to Nippoldt or by coloring a picture of the Tooth Fairy that was featured both in the ad and on Nippoldt's Web site and mailing it to The Centre for Distinctive Dentistry.
For every picture or baby tooth received, Dr. Nippoldt donated $1 towards his cost of restoring a child's smile. In turn, the children received thank-you postcards from the Tooth Fairy informing them that their donation was turned into fairy dust to be used to help another child smile.
"Hundreds of children sent pictures or baby teeth," said Nippoldt. "The Woodbury Girl Scout troops were especially active in the program."
Working closely with Washington County Social Services, Nippoldt was able to identify a teenager who was the victim of a vicious attack that resulted in her losing two front teeth. One tooth was knocked out immediately in the accident, and the other tooth died as a result of the injury.
"This was just the type of patient we wanted to help," said Nippoldt.
Neither social services nor the child's parents were able to take care of the fees involved in restoring the teenager's smile.
"Not being able to smile with confidence can have a devastating affect on a person's psyche, and I knew that we could change this patient's life by restoring her smile," he said.
When local implant surgeon Dr. Paul Petrungaro, heard about the case, he immediately volunteered to place implants for the young lady.
In addition, the Straumann implant company donated implant parts and Aurum Dental Lab donated their services. Nippoldt recently placed the beautiful new implant crowns.
"You should have seen the patient's face when she looked in the mirror," said Nippoldt. "It was just glowing. It is so gratifying to be able to use our advanced skills to help an individual such as this fine young patient get her smile back."
