ET EXCLUSIVE: Ted Williams Gets a Dental Makeover Consultation
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ET is with Ted Williams -- the homeless "man with the golden voice" who became an overnight Internet sensation -- on the comeback road as he pays a visit to the dentist to makeover his winning smile.
"I'm getting new teeth! I just can't imagine it," Ted tells ET, "and I'm just a little scared, because I'm going to tell you what -- it's been a long time, as you can well see, since I've been to a dentist."
Ted is counting on a successful career as a voiceover artist, and fixing his smile is a key step. Based on a recommendation from Dr. Phil, Ted will get help from Dr. Jay Grossman's Homeless Not Toothless charity, which will cover the expense of his dental work.
Asked how long it's been since he's had any dental care, Ted replies, "Over 20 years. Outside of an extraction -- emergency extraction -- and I got that in jail."
"That's where I step in," says Dr. Grossman. "Making you look handsome again and giving you a smile that you can be proud of is what we're here for."
But as a recovering addict, Ted has concerns about pain medication that may be involved in the transformation.
"With me being in recovery and all, I'm supposed to take certain medications responsibly, and sometimes in the program of alcoholic and narcotics anonymous we have medications that trigger other drug of choice type things, and I was a little concerned about the idea," says Ted.
"There are plenty of patients that are in your shoes, so that's the first thing you should know," replies Dr. Grossman. "You're absolutely right. We don't want a medication, basically a narcotic, that's going to trigger another episode, so there are plenty of medication choices that we have that are non-narcotics that will give you adequate comfort from pain."
After getting an x-ray, Dr. Grossman gives Ted the lowdown: "Simply put, we have several teeth that are infected," he says. "We're going to schedule time tomorrow to get that taken care of. My goal today is to get a generalized cleaning and get the gum disease cleaned up. Once the gum disease is cleaned up, I'm hoping that you're actually going to feel better, you're going to eat a lot better, breath issues will be resolved and so forth, and then we'll start talking about what we're going to do to restore your mouth."
Ted has agreed to go rehab -- as urged by Dr. Phil -- but he plans to return to complete his dental makeover, and ET will be with him every step of the way…
