How would your life change if you had a full set of strong, healthy teeth and a dream smile? Imagine showing your full smile in photos with friends and loved ones, and not trying to hide your teeth or hold back when you laugh.
A beautiful smile can help you feel great sharing your full smile with the world. But some dental issues need more than a cosmetic solution.
Today, we’re going to share a smile success story that started with severely worn, chipped, and weakened teeth that put strain on our patient’s jaw joints, creating pain and loss of function. By the time we completed this patient’s full mouth reconstruction in Orlando, FL, he was ready to live life to the fullest with renewed comfort, function, and esthetics!
Let’s take a step-by-step look at how we did it, and how we could do the same for you!
What Is Full Mouth Reconstruction?
Before we dive into this amazing transformation, it’s worth taking a moment to understand the type of treatment this patient needed.
Full mouth reconstruction, also known as full mouth rehabilitation, is a comprehensive approach that improves a person’s oral healthy by addressing:
- Every tooth in the mouth.
- The gums and supporting structures of the teeth.
- The health and function of the jaw joints.
There are many reasons a person may need full mouth rehabilitation.
For example, many patients come to us after years of avoiding dental care due to severe dental anxiety, mental health difficulties, medical challenges, financial limitations, or because they became overwhelmed by the state of their oral health.
Full mouth reconstruction helps people recover from issues like severe decay, broken or missing teeth, developmental issues that affected their oral health, failing dental work, and teeth that have become worn or damaged for any number of reasons. The final result is a full set of strong, functional teeth and an end to constant pain, discomfort, and shame due to failing teeth.
At Lake Baldwin Dental, we never take a one-size-fits-all approach to any treatment.
That’s why every full mouth reconstruction starts with a comprehensive exam from our restoration dentists in Orlando, FL. You deserve completely personalized attention and a treatment plan tailored to your unique needs.
Step 1: Getting to Know You with a Comprehensive Consultation for Full Mouth Reconstruction
Our patient came to see us with a wide variety of problems that ultimately lead to a few key complaints.
- He wasn’t happy with how his smile looked.
- He struggled with TMJ disorder because of problems with his bite.
- His teeth were weak, worn down, misaligned, and badly chipped, leaving them vulnerable to more damage in the future.
One of the major challenges that lead to his dental health problems was a medical issue that affected how his teeth developed, as well as his periodontal health. This would become a major hurdle Dr. Dunn and the team would need to overcome during his treatment.
That’s why a thorough review of your medical history including any medications you take is a key part of your first visit with us. As healthcare providers first and foremost, we want to be sure we’re taking your overall health into account to create the best possible outcome for your smile.
Dr. Dunn and his assistant Allison performed a thorough tooth-by-tooth analysis and collected detailed digital diagnostics to get a full picture of our patient’s needs.
More importantly, our team took the time to truly listen to his concerns and understand how his dental health was affecting his daily life, as well as what goals he had for his renewed smile. Which is what every patient can expect at Lake Baldwin Dental!
Step 2: Creating a Custom Full Mouth Rehabilitation Plan
To create the right plan, Dr. Dunn started with his ideal outcome for our patient.
Specifically, our team needed to design each restoration to create a stable, healthy bite.
Because our patient struggled with severe grinding, he had worn his teeth down significantly. And because the teeth were too short, it allowed the lower jaw to close too far, which damaged the jaw joints and interfered with his normal range of motion.
Improving the harmony of the bite would benefit our patient in a few ways.
- Relieve strain on the jaw joints to minimize pain from his TMJ disfunction.
- Protect the teeth from excessive strain, which can damage the nerves and ligaments that support the teeth.
- Prevent excessive wear on his new crowns to ensure they last as long as possible.
- Create the right jaw position to preserve the shape of our patient’s face.
- Stabilize the positions of the teeth to prevent further shifting and bite problems in the future.
With these goals in mind, our team designed each crown to rebuild lost enamel and re-create a healthier height so that the jaw could rest in a normal position without over-closing.
As with every cosmetic dentistry treatment plan, Dr. Dunn and our team crafted this patient’s new smile with consideration for his facial features, skin tone, lip line, gum contours, and many other esthetic considerations so that his final result would look completely natural.
Step 3: The Struggle Is Real
Your health and comfort are always our highest goals. And sometimes that means taking things slow to do it right.
Our patient had lived with a collapsed bite for years, and his jaw muscles and teeth had become accustomed to that.
Rather than rushing to place a bunch of “ideal” crowns on our patient’s teeth, we needed to give his muscles and ligaments time to adjust to a healthier range of motion. And that would take time.
Dr. Dunn and Allison prepared our patient’s teeth for new restorations while he rested comfortably with safe and effective pain control and relaxation to make the process as easy as possible.
Then, they placed temporary restorations designed to allow his jaws and teeth to adapt to a restored bite little by little. In many cases, our patients will only wear temporary restorations for a shot time. In this case, however, our patient stayed in temporary crowns for nearly a month to give his body time to adjust.
It wasn’t easy. The process was very uncomfortable for him at times, as his jaw muscles and ligaments struggled to adapt. To help make things as easy on him as possible, Allison and Dr. Dunn made sure to always be available to make adjustments and help him in any way they could.
Many times, that meant coaching him through frustration and reminding him to trust the process!
Step 4: Celebrating Renewed Health with a Beautiful Full Mouth Reconstruction
When the jaw joints and ligaments had adapted as much as our patient could tolerate, Dr. Dunn moved forward with placing his permanent restorations. In the end, our team opted for a slight alteration in the plan, which improved our patient’s bite without pushing him past what he could tolerate.
And he could not be happier with the final result!
Not only is his smile beautiful and natural-looking; his new crowns have restored a fully functional bite. In fact, our patient says his jaw joints no longer click or hurt, thanks to his full mouth reconstruction.
We’re overjoyed to share his kind words following his treatment process:
What an amazing transformation!!!! My full upper and lower arch
restoration and rebuild was extremely complex. My teeth were crooked,
chipped, cracked, misaligned (after 60+ years of previous dental work),
and worn down due to grinding my teeth. Dr. Dunn, Allison, and the
dental aesthetician/technician were incredible. They took an
embarrassing smile and transformed it into a new me. This rebuild and
restoration involved crowns on each tooth, saving the base of my teeth,
allowing for a great feel and bite (they also opened up my bite by
building up the crowns which eliminated the “clicking” in my jaw!!!).
Each and every tooth was individually addressed as a piece of the total
project. Allison was terrific in helping me through the process from
establishing expectations thru follow-up adjustments and her follow-up
is great. Dr. Dunn is a fabulous dentist and is gentle, comforting,
thorough, and professional. Thank you, Dr. Dunn and Allison!!!
Make Your Smile a Success Story!
We hope that this patient’s success story might inspire you to give your own smile a new lease on life.
We understand that dental health problems can feel very discouraging. Many people feel like their smile isn’t worth saving. But nothing could be further from the truth. Even if it’s been years since you’ve seen a dentist, we’re here for you!
Call us to schedule your consultation for full mouth reconstruction in Baldwin Park, FL today!
