Dr. Kimberly Corrigan-Dankworth shares one of our most-followed cases at La Costa Dental Excellence: a 20-crown smile makeover for a Carlsbad patient who came in believing her teeth were beyond saving, and what 10 years of follow-up has taught the team about long-term crown care. Watch the video above for the full story, and read on for what the case shows about the records-driven planning that makes outcomes like this possible.
You Deserve a Smile You Are Not Afraid to Show
Many of the patients who eventually become full-mouth restoration cases at La Costa Dental Excellence arrive after years of avoiding the dentist. Some have been told elsewhere that their teeth are beyond saving. Others have been quietly hiding their smile in photos for so long that they have stopped noticing they do it. The case in the video above started that way too. The most important question for anyone in that situation is not “what crown materials are available” but “is this dentist someone I can trust with what I have been carrying around in my mouth for years.” The rest of this post is about how that trust gets built in practice.
The Records That Decide What Is Possible
Dr. Kimberly’s clinical approach starts with the records before the recommendation. Digital scans, intraoral photographs, and bite analysis tell us not just what the teeth look like today but what is structurally possible to restore. She has put it this way to many patients:
I have been treating families in Carlsbad since before the children of my first patients had children of their own. The dentistry is the easy part. The harder, more important part is making the practice feel like one of the people the family already knows.
That records-and-relationships sequence is what made the 20-crown case in the video clinically viable. The records told us what was structurally possible; the relationship that grew over the planning conversations made it possible for the patient to commit to a multi-stage process after years of dental avoidance.
A 20-Crown Restoration, 10 Years Later
The patient in the video came in with severe damage and decay across most of her teeth, having previously been told by other providers that her teeth were beyond saving. After a careful records workup and treatment-planning conversations, the practice proceeded with a coordinated 20-crown plan: 10 crowns on the upper arch, 10 on the lower, placed in functional groupings with bite-by-bite occlusal verification between stages.
Two clinical points stand out from this case. First, the staged sequencing mattered; full-mouth crown work is not a single appointment, and the patient never left an appointment with an entire arch out of function. Second, the 10-year follow-up has been substantive: the crowns have held up, the bite has remained stable, and the soft tissue has stayed healthy. The patient continues to come in for routine hygiene and exams. See more before-and-after smile-transformation cases from the practice.
Patient Stories from Carlsbad
Patient names are withheld to protect privacy, but the following are real experiences shared by La Costa Dental Excellence patients.
One patient said that after getting dental crowns, she could not stop smiling, and her friends noticed how much happier she seemed. That kind of social-confidence shift is one of the most common patient reports we hear after a crown case completes; the change is partly aesthetic and partly the relief of no longer protecting a tooth that hurt or felt fragile.
Another patient described how her crowns changed her life. Before treatment she had been shy about her smile; afterward she felt proud. “I never knew how much a smile could change my life,” she told us, recounting how the new smile opened up opportunities for her both personally and professionally.
Another patient said the professional, caring environment at La Costa Dental Excellence made the entire experience positive, and that the crowns helped her rediscover a long-lost confidence. The point, in her telling, was not the procedure itself but how the procedure freed her to stop thinking about her teeth. Read more patient testimonials.
Meet Dr. Kimberly Corrigan-Dankworth and the Dankworth Family Practice
Dr. Kimberly Corrigan-Dankworth, DDS, leads restorative cases at La Costa Dental Excellence. She graduated from the University of the Pacific Dugoni School of Dentistry and has practiced in Carlsbad since 1984. Her clinical focus is comprehensive restorative dentistry with particular emphasis on records-driven treatment planning and long-term outcome verification.
She practices alongside Dr. Stephen Dankworth, DDS (University of the Pacific Dugoni School of Dentistry; four decades of restorative and prosthodontic experience) and Dr. Piper Dankworth, DDS (Kois Center graduate, California Implant Institute trained, advanced training in implantology, oral surgery, and patient-centered treatment planning). The three doctors share equal clinical responsibility across the practice’s patient panel.
Schedule a Smile Design Consultation in Carlsbad
If anything in this case study sounds like the situation you have been carrying, the next step is a consultation with Dr. Kimberly Corrigan-Dankworth. A smile design consultation includes the records workup (digital scans, intraoral photographs, and bite analysis), a discussion of what is structurally possible, and a written treatment plan with insurance breakdown. There is no commitment.
Call us at (760) 633-3033 or visit our dental crowns service page to schedule. The office is at 7730 Rancho Santa Fe Rd #106, Carlsbad, CA 92009.
