931 Howe Ave, Ste A, Sacramento, CA 95825
Home » Rocky’s Smile Story
Rocky · Full-Mouth Reconstruction
Every remaining tooth was going to come out. Instead, a reversible test showed the foundation was sound, and we rebuilt on what he already had.
Rocky has been a general contractor for close to thirty years. He sized up our plan the way he’d size up a house: check the foundation before you condemn the building. I’d rather you hear it from him than from me. Click Watch Now below for his story, in his words.
Rocky has been a general contractor for close to thirty years. He sized up our plan the way he’d size up a house: check the foundation before you condemn the building. I’d rather you hear it from him than from me. His story, in his words, is below.
No extractions · Fully reversible test · All his own teeth
Why Rocky kept a jar of peanuts in his truck
He rebuilds homes. We rebuilt his smile.
Treatment at a glance
Everything you’d want to know, in five seconds.
Primary concern
Severe wear
Painful to eat; broken down over decades
Pace
Unhurried
Scheduled around his work, in six phases
Approach
Reversible
Tested before anything permanent
Teeth kept
All of them
No extractions, no dentures
Rocky is a patient of Dr. Crooks and has also performed paid work as a licensed general contractor for her personally at her home. Individual results vary; not all patients will get the same results.
From Dr. Monica Rocky came in ready to have every tooth taken out. But nothing we build replaces a healthy natural root. He had only worn off the part you can see. Underneath, the foundation was excellent.
Rocky came to us in pain. His teeth hurt; several were severely broken down, and he kept a jar of peanuts in his truck so he could pack the holes before a meal and eat with less pain. He had priced the obvious answer: take them all out, place implants, bolt in dentures. He thought the ship had sailed on saving them.
A friend told him to get a second opinion before he committed to anything. That is how he found his way to me. What I saw was long, healthy roots under teeth that had simply worn away on top. Taking those out would have been the harder operation, not the easier one.
The first question was not how to replace Rocky’s teeth. It was whether they needed replacing at all. Full photographs, models, and a careful look at what was left told us what was actually still there.
The answer was more hopeful than he expected. The roots were long and sound. Only the visible crowns had worn away. In construction terms, the foundation and the walls were fine. It was the finish work that had gone.
Front view, day one
The profile, day one
Years of wear had quietly shortened the lower third of his face. Before we planned a single tooth, we had to measure how much height had been lost.
Decades of wear had shortened Rocky’s teeth, and his jaw had crept forward to compensate. So at his first working visit we did the simplest thing available: we filled in the worn and broken areas.
The result was immediate, and it settled the question. He walked out of that appointment no longer class III. His teeth met edge to edge. Nothing had been cut, nothing removed, and the bite had already begun to correct itself.
Upper arch, before the build-up
Nothing was cut or drilled — every step above could be taken straight back off.
Some people are born with a class III jaw. Rocky was not. His had come from decades of vertical collapse, the height of his face slowly shortening as his teeth wore down. Restore the height and the bite comes back on its own, which is exactly what happened. From there the work was rebuilding, not replacing.
Knowing the height could be restored was one thing. Knowing how much to restore was another. We fitted a Snap-on Smile, a removable appliance that clips over the teeth, and used it to test his vertical dimension in real life rather than guess at it in the chair.
This was the step that sold him. Nothing was permanent. If he hated it, it came out and we talked. After fifty-eight years with his lower teeth in front, he wanted a way back if the change did not suit him.
Removable, nothing permanent
Rocky wore it for months. Eating, speaking, working. That is the only way to find the problems a mirror will not show you.
At first we had opened it slightly too much. I could hear it before he could feel it, a small trip in his speech, as though his tongue were catching on something. We reduced it by about a millimeter and the problem disappeared. By the end, he said it felt as though his teeth had always been that way.
Living in it - months of ordinary days
Function
Chewing at the new height
Speech
Every sound, unforced
Esthetics
Still unmistakably him
Months of wearing the Snap-On Smile had proven the right height. Now we had to capture it exactly. We sectioned the appliance in half to record the bite it had been holding, then took impressions of both arches and sent them to the lab.
Because the appliance had already opened the bite, we needed to remove very little tooth structure. No cutting down the biting surfaces. Just trimming around each tooth to make room for a crown, which is about as conservative as a full rebuild gets.
The appliance, sectioned in half
On the model
Shows the degree of added vertical dimension needed — the exact gap the restorations had to fill.
Crowns went on over the teeth he still had. Rocky walked in expecting to lose every one of them and walked out with all of them meeting correctly for the first time in decades. It looked completely natural, because nothing had been replaced.
The difference was not only how it looked. He told us he no longer had to maul his food to get through a meal. He could simply chew it. And the peanuts stayed in the truck.
Actual patient. Procedures performed: build-ups, a trial appliance, and crowns. Individual results vary; the same results may not occur for all patients.
Along the way
Months in the transitional smile — every detail proven in daily life before a single restoration was made final.
Beyond the smile
Rocky’s rebuild wasn’t just cosmetic. He kept every tooth he came in with, ended up with a bite that finally works, and no longer plans his meals around the pain.
Rocky, after his final restorations
Five years on
We checked in with Rocky five years after his final restorations were seated. Everything was still holding — the bite, the fit, the floss catching the same way between every tooth. That is the part I care about most. A smile that looks good on delivery day is one thing. One that is still working five years later is the whole point.
Rocky has been a general contractor for close to thirty years, and he understood the plan before I finished explaining it. He had walked into houses everyone else had written off. He already knew the difference between a structure that has to come down and one that just needs bringing back.
— Rocky, five years after treatment
Rocky has since retired, and his son now runs the business. If you’re in the Sacramento area and looking for a contractor, I recommend him without hesitation:
Lorem Ipsum Construction Travis Mraz 1234 Consectetur Ave, Suite 000 Sacramento, CA 95000
Your turn
It may not be the only answer. Like Rocky, you deserve a plan that checks the foundation first and tests everything before anything becomes permanent. Let’s talk about your smile.
Book a free consultation
Free & no-obligation · Bring your existing scans & treatment plans
Least-invasive option firstReversible options explored before anything permanent
Second-opinion welcomeBring your scans & prior treatment plans
Flexible financingPlans to fit complex, multi-phase care
Out-of-town patientsWe coordinate travel & scheduling around you
SEE MORE SMILES
Smile Gallery
Rebecca’s Story
She chose Dr. Crooks for her own full-mouth reconstruction: Invisalign, tissue grafting, and porcelain bridges and veneers.
Read the story →
Keith’s Story
A working musician straightens, reshapes, and brightens his smile with Invisalign, bonding, and whitening, without missing a show.
Rocky’s Story
A contractor restores a full mouth with crowns, bridges, bonding, and tooth-colored fillings, and gets back to work.
You’re reading it →
© 2026 Dr. Monica Crooks, DDS. All Rights Reserved.
Type and press Enter to search
Know someone wanting a new smile? We'll text them a link so they can meet Dr. Crooks.
