Dancer gets a new smile
A van accident killed Tao Yong’s two friends, ended his dance career and shattered his smile when 12 upper teeth were knocked out almost four years ago.
A Spokane dentist couldn’t help with the loss of friends or Tao’s shattered left knee, but Dr. Chris Chaffin gave Tao a perfect smile – which will help the young man’s new singing ambitions.
In 2001, Tao was part of the Beijing dance group that lost two members in a fatal van accident after its Spokane performance. He’s now 20 and a student in the singing program at the Beijing Dance Academy in China.
On Thursday, Tao, or James as English speakers call him, held up a hand mirror and touched his 12 new upper teeth moments after Chaffin cemented in the long-coming bridgework.
Fatigue, sore gums and a numb lip made Tao’s smile crooked at first. Then he flashed a faultless smile for Chaffin and his excited staff who took pictures and videos.
On Friday, Tao returned for his 13th appointment since July to finish detail work. Young left Spokane on Sunday for Beijing to complete a tough journey that began with the tragic van crash on slippery roads.
Tao was 17 when he arrived in Spokane on a chilly February day in 2001. He was part of a group of Chinese dancers from Beijing’s Dance Academy. Spokane was the third of several performances planned in the region. The day after a performance in The Met, three white vans carrying 34 dancers left Spokane for Portland Feb. 16. They never arrived. One van lost control on U.S. 395 south of Ritzville and flipped. Another van tried to slow too quickly and also flipped. Three male dancers were thrown from the van, including Tao.
Jia Shuli, 17, and Gong Xiang, 16, died from their injuries. Tao’s face was swollen. His left knee and thigh were shattered. He lost 14 teeth. As he recovered at Sacred Heart Medical Center, dozens of community members came to visit and pray for him.
China Best held a fund-raiser for Tao. Several thousand dollars was raised from the community for Tao and the families of the two dancers who died in the wreck. The attorney general’s office decided not to file charges against the two drivers.
Tao’s parents, both entertainers, flew into Spokane to support their son. They stayed at the Ronald McDonald House for several months.
By April, two months after the wreck, Tao was walking on crutches. The wire holding his jaw together had been removed. His left kneecap was in pieces but held together with more wire. A metal bar supported his thigh. A state insurance program covered his injuries, but his teeth were another story.
Insurance wouldn’t pay for restorative surgery, only dentures.
Tao’s new friends in the community tried to spread word of his shattered smile in hopes of attracting a dentist.
Chaffin found a contact for Tao in a dental society newsletter.
“It seemed like a challenging case,” Chaffin said.
In May, Chaffin did an evaluation and agreed to donate his time and services. Chaffin also lined up a lab and a company to donate the titanium implants. In all, about $30,000 of work was done for Tao with Chaffin’s office covering items like lab costs.
The eight implants were installed in October 2001. Tao left for Beijing to continue his education in December, 10 months after the accident.
The plan was to bring Tao back in a year to complete the procedure. Implants need time to fuse with the jawbone.
The process to bring back Tao started about two years ago.
In a post 9/11 world, obtaining a visa became more complicated. Office manager Tracy Assmus stayed in contact with Tao through e-mail. There was some trouble in getting a steady flow of information from Tao’s dentist in China.
“If I could get a couple communications back and forth I felt lucky,” Chaffin said.
Chaffin’s office wrote letters to Beijing Dance Academy and immigration officials to hurry the process. Finally, in July 2004 Tao flew into Spokane and stayed mostly with the Yim family.
During his stay with the Christian family, Tao was baptized at the Chinese Baptist Church.
“Many Christians helped me,” Tao said.
They shuttled him to each of the required 13 dental appointments.
The procedure was complex. First the implants, which had been sewn over to help the healing process, had to be uncovered. Then the abutment, which is much like a row of concrete supports for an automobile bridge, had to be screwed into the implants. That provided a secure foundation for the bridgework of new teeth.
Tao had to choose his new teeth from a catalog. Dental imaging programs on a computer showed what each set would look like. A lab created the bridge of metal supports and porcelain teeth. On Thursday, after almost four hours in a dentist chair, and dozens of dry fittings, Chaffin applied the cement and installed Tao’s new smile.
When Tao arrived in July, he brought Chaffin two handmade blue and white vases to show his appreciation. For Chaffin, who’s originally from Blackfoot, Idaho, it’s all about the smile.
“There’s a lot of satisfaction in seeing the smile on his face,” Chaffin said.
And the smile’s flawless.