Scott Harris: Jaw and Mouth Solution

I had the misfortune of being born with a condition called an esophageal inlet patch. In other words, a piece of stomach tissue dislodged before I was born and became lodged in my throat. The good news is that rather than causing immediate medical complications, the gastric tissue was accepted into the growth of my esophagus. The bad news is that the gastric cells produce stomach acid that flows into my mouth while I sleep, gradually destroying my teeth.

In hindsight, the condition explains a lot of issues I dealt with for many years, but I had no clue to the real problem until I was in my mid-thirties. Suddenly a dentist refused to even clean my teeth because he said that I had no enamel on them, and he was scared that they would break. It took another few years before a GI doctor in Atlanta discovered the inlet patch during an endoscopy. Because surgical efforts to correct that problem apparently lead to increased risks of cancer-- while leaving it alone only results in chronic coughing and dental decay-- the doctors informed me that the best we could do was to try to manage the acid production with medication.

Unfortunately, the medications didn’t work and much of the damage to my teeth had already been done. Multiple dentists have said that there was nothing I could have done to prevent the situation. After all, it’s not every day that you’re born with a five-centimeter stomach in your throat. I’ve lived with some degree of pain every day for more than ten years. I’m a teacher, a researcher, and a public speaker. Only a few times have my students or audiences caught on that something was wrong. For the most part, I began to get used to the pain. But over the last few years, the situation has progressively worsened. It has caused changes to my bite that are causing my jaw to dislocate, which results in debilitating pain.

In order to maintain my health and my speaking career, I’ve been told by doctors, dentists, and oral surgeons that my best option (including accounting for the fact that the inlet patch will still be there) is a type of implant-supported denture. It requires not only the construction of the oral appliances, but full surgery to both my upper and lower dental arches. They recommend that I do the procedure as soon as possible to avoid continued pain and complications, ideally this summer (2021) before the next school year starts. 

I have pled with medical insurance and dental insurance for assistance without success. My doctor has put in writing that this results from an underlying medical condition and that action is necessary to protect my current health. That even has done no good. Health insurance has issued a final “No” and the best that the dental insurance could do after arguing and pleading for more than three years is to reduce a price tag of almost $100,000 down to 68,000 out-of-pocket. Finally, the dentist and oral surgeon have offered an inclusive package of approximately $32,000, provided that I agree not to file with insurance.  But even that is a crippling amount for a single dad.

I hate to ask for help. But I’m tired of being in pain, and I know that without the pain I can do an even better job for my students and the community. If you can help, I will be forever grateful.