Rebuilding your oral health with a full mouth restoration

Under ideal circumstances, your teeth are designed to last a lifetime. They’re perfectly adapted to help us carry out essential tasks like eating, speaking, and even swallowing. More than that, though, our teeth play a role in our social lives by allowing us to express ourselves. Our smiles impact the way others view us, as well as the way we view ourselves. Despite the natural strength of our teeth, throughout a lifetime, there’s a lot that can damage them. Eventually, extensive damage to many of your teeth can cause you to lose confidence in the way you smile.

Thankfully, this doesn’t have to become your new normal! A full mouth restoration could be the key to repairing and rebuilding your oral health, including restoring function and appearance, as well as feeling your best and strongest. You may even be able to gain the smile of your dreams—the smile you’ve always wanted. But what exactly is a full mouth restoration? We’ve put together a guide to help you learn more about this restorative dentistry treatment and whether it could be right for you.

What is a full mouth restoration?  

A full mouth restoration, which is sometimes called a full mouth reconstruction or a full arch rehabilitation, combines the best of restorative and cosmetic dentistry to restore your smile’s function and beauty. It consists of a combination of procedures that are planned together with a cohesive vision for your finished smile. When your teeth need extensive work, this approach provides stunning results. Instead of taking each treatment one at a time without considering their impact on each other, we look at your entire smile as a whole—not just when it comes to your oral health, but when it comes to your smile’s finished appearance as well. This ensures that at the end of the full mouth restoration process, your smile will be as healthy and naturally beautiful as it can be!

What types of patients may need a full mouth restoration?  

A full mouth restoration is generally recommended when all or most of your teeth have suffered some sort of damage and need to be repaired through dental work to function well and look their best. This can happen for several reasons, including teeth that have been severely damaged or lost due to tooth decay, periodontitis, injury during a sport or other accident, enamel erosion, and bruxism, which can cause teeth to chip, crack, break, or simply wear down over time.

Additionally, in rare cases, some people have congenital conditions that impact the development or strength of their teeth, leaving them with teeth that never developed or that are more vulnerable to injury, so they may need their teeth restored as a result. Many people who need a full mouth reconstruction have a combination of these dental issues rather than just one, but a full mouth reconstruction is designed to take on and repair any combination of these issues!

What are the treatment options for a full mouth restoration?

Every full mouth restoration is uniquely designed to treat your specific dental issues while giving you the final, completed smile of your dreams. As a result, full mouth restorations can consist of a combination of several different procedures, and this combination varies from person to person, ensuring you get the best treatment for your individual needs. However, this makes it hard to predict exactly which treatments you’ll need before you visit your dentist to discuss your options with them, which is why it’s always best to speak with your dentist at Compass Dental Group first.

Dental Crowns

Dental crowns are another restoration option. They are tooth-shaped restorations placed over your natural teeth to restore the function and appearance of teeth that have been cracked, broken, worn down, or severely decayed. By covering the damaged tooth, they also protect it from future injury or decay. Dental crowns are often made of porcelain and each is custom-made for you so that its size, shape, shade, and gloss match your natural teeth. This allows the crown to look completely natural, blending in seamlessly with your smile.

Bridges

When you’ve lost one or two teeth in a row, a dental bridge can be used to fill the gap, restoring the function and appearance of your smile and preventing your remaining healthy teeth from beginning to shift into the gap. Bridges consist of one or two false teeth, called pontics, which are supported by a crown on either end. These crowns are placed on the healthy teeth at either side of the gap in your smile, suspending the pontic between them. Like dental crowns, they’re often made of porcelain and are custom-made to blend seamlessly with your smile.

Dental Implants

Dental implants are the most versatile tooth-replacement option available. A dental implant consists of a titanium metal rod that is embedded into your jawbone like a natural tooth root, and then secured with a dental restoration. One missing tooth can be replaced with a single implant supporting a dental crown, while multiple dental implants can be secured with a bridge or partial dentures to replace several missing teeth. You can also replace all of the teeth on one or both of your arches with full mouth dental implants. With full dental implants, between four and six dental implants are placed on each arch to support a set of implant-supported dentures.

The restorations placed on implants are always carefully crafted just for you, ensuring that they look completely natural. Implants also provide a natural, deep-rooted strength that makes them feel just as natural as they look. They also protect your oral health in ways that no other tooth replacement option can, so it’s no wonder so many people choose them!

Dentures

If you have little to no teeth remaining on one or both of your dental arches, another option is dentures. Dentures are made of an acrylic, gum-colored base set with false teeth. You can get partial dentures to replace several missing teeth or full dentures to replace an entire arch. Partial dentures are usually held in place with some form of clasp, while full dentures rely on a custom fit and suction. If they fit well, even full dentures stay in place better than many people expect. Every aspect of your dentures is made just for you, ensuring that they look natural. No one will even know you have them!

Get Back Your Confidence at Compass Dental

No matter what procedures are involved in your full mouth restoration, the goal is always the same—to give you a beautiful, functional, healthy smile that you will truly love and feel confident with. If you’d like to learn more about full mouth reconstruction or a full arch rehabilitation, feel free to schedule a consultation with your dentist Compass Dental Group at any time.