RSDM Gives Child Reason to Smile

Kaitlyn Pinto used to ask her parents, “Why do my friends have teeth, and I don’t?”

The 9-year-old had ectodermal dysplasia, a condition that hinders tooth development. Kaitlyn’s front teeth never grew, and her back teeth were small and barely visible. After a dental hygienist referred her to RSDM’s prosthodontics clinic, Haitham Aga, a third-year prosthodontics resident, fitted her with pediatric dentures to fit over her existing teeth.

He’ll never forget Kaitlyn’s smile the first time she wore her new teeth. "It didn’t just make my day, it made my month,” says Aga, who was overseen by faculty Dr. Robert Flinton, a practitioner at Rutgers Health University Dental Associates, RSDM's faculty practice.

Kaitlyn will be fitted with new dentures periodically until she stops growing and receives permanent implants. But she doesn’t seem to mind. To thank Aga, she gave him a self-portrait inscribed with the words “You didn’t just make my day. You made my life.”