What Is Full Mouth Reconstruction? The Complete Patient Guide

Whether you've suffered an injury, endured a debilitating disease, or have let your routine dental care lapse for too long, significant oral health problems and dental damage can alter your life. These kinds of complex oral health issues can lower your quality of life by:

• Causing painful symptoms
• Increasing your risk for systemic disease
• Making it difficult to chew and eat
• Impacting your digestive system and health through a less nutritious diet
• Making it difficult to speak clearly or pronounce certain words
• Changing your physical appearance and impacting your confidence

No matter how dental problems have affected your life, our team at Sinclair Smiles is here to support you in your journey with a full mouth reconstruction designed to restore your oral health, dental function, smile aesthetics, and quality of life. 

What Is Full Mouth Reconstruction?

A full mouth reconstruction is an extensive, layered, holistic, and complex approach to dental care. A full mouth reconstruction combines a series of dental treatments, therapies, and procedures to restore the function of your teeth, revitalize your oral health, and enhance the aesthetic appearance of your smile. 

Other common terms for full mouth reconstruction include variations of the following:

• Full mouth restoration
• Full mouth rehabilitation
• Whole mouth reconstruction
• Full dental reconstruction
• Full mouth dental reconstruction

Smile Makeover vs. Full Mouth Reconstruction: What's the Difference?

Sometimes, the terms "smile makeover" and "full mouth reconstruction" are used interchangeably. These services, however, are different. A smile makeover is primarily concerned with smile aesthetics, providing a treatment plan to improve and enhance the appearance of the teeth, gums, and surrounding anatomy. While considering smile aesthetics, a full mouth reconstruction's primary purpose is to restore the function and health of a person's oral anatomy. 

Who Is a Good Candidate for Full Mouth Reconstruction?

Good candidates for full mouth restoration are those with multiple, severe, and/or complex oral health issues that they would like to address in order to restore the health, function, and aesthetics of their smile. 

Full mouth reconstruction treatments are designed to address any combination of the following concerns:

• Poor oral health
• Dental disease and periodontal disease
• Poor dental function (difficulty eating or difficulty speaking and pronouncing words)
• Missing teeth
• Abnormally sized or shaped teeth
• Broken, chipped, or fractured teeth
• Misaligned teeth (crooked, crowded, or gapped teeth)
• Malocclusion (abnormal bite)
• Gum recession or excessive gingival display (gummy smile)
• Asymmetrical or improperly balanced smile
• Jawbone degeneration
• Temporomandibular joint disorder
• Painful symptoms (toothache, sensitivity, sore gums, bleeding gums, or jaw pain)
• Persistent bad breath
• Dental damage due to medication side effects
• Oral health problems related to oral cancer

Full mouth reconstruction treatment is designed to address and resolve complex oral health issues that impact the teeth, gums, jawbones, lips, and cheeks.  

The Full Mouth Reconstruction Process: What to Expect During Your Treatment Plan

The process of full mouth reconstruction is different for every patient. This complex, multifaceted treatment process is designed for each individual patient, and the details will depend on the patient's treatment needs and goals, medical history, health, healing speed, and preferences. 

Patient Consultation and Examination

The treatment process begins with a patient consultation and examination. During this appointment, our dentist will have a conversation with you to gain a thorough understanding of your oral health concerns, functional challenges, medical history, aesthetic preferences, and treatment goals.

We will perform a thorough examination of your teeth and gums, and we will also take diagnostic images for a complete assessment of the internal structures that support your oral anatomy. 

Designing Your Personalized Treatment Plan

Taking all of this information into account, we will then work with you to develop a personalized, multifaceted treatment plan designed to restore your oral anatomy to its complete form and functioning while enhancing your smile's appearance.

Each patient's treatment plan is unique since each patient's needs and oral anatomy are uniquely their own. 

Some of the treatments commonly used in full mouth rehabilitation include:

• Periodontal Disease Treatment - Depending on the severity of the case, treatment for gum disease ranges from lifestyle adjustments and deeper cleanings (scaling and root planing) to prescription antibiotics and oral surgery. We can help you get your gum disease under control to support better oral and general health. 
• Root Canal Therapy - When the interior pulp of a tooth has been exposed to and infected with bacteria, root canal therapy sterilizes the inside of the tooth, saving it from extraction. 
• Full and Partial Dentures - For patients missing all or most of their teeth, we can completely restore the smile with removable or implant-supported full or partial dentures. 
• Dental Implants and Implant-Supported Restorations - Dental implants maintain ongoing oral health while mimicking natural tooth roots by supporting a variety of dental prosthetics, such as dentures, bridges, or crowns. 
• Dental Crowns - Dental crowns are used to cover, strengthen, and seal a significantly damaged tooth, protecting it from infection and preventing the need for extraction. 
• Dental Bridges - A dental bridge is used to replace one or more consecutive missing teeth at once. Different types of anchors (such as wires and bonding, dental crowns, and dental implants) support a variety of dental bridge styles. 
• Composite Bonding - Made of tooth-colored resin composite, dental bonding can be used to restore damaged teeth, manage tooth sensitivity, and enhance the smile's aesthetic appearance by filling in gaps, masking discoloration, or correcting the appearance of an abnormally sized or shaped tooth. 
• Porcelain Veneers - Porcelain veneers offer powerful cosmetic dental benefits, and they can be used in a full mouth reconstruction to improve smile symmetry, balance, color, and composition. 
• Dental Fillings, Inlays, and Onlays - Where significant tooth decay or damage has occurred, tooth-colored composite dental fillings or porcelain inlays or onlays can be used to restore the tooth, arrest decay, and protect it from further damage. 
• Orthodontics - Orthodontics (such as Invisalign or traditional braces) can be used to address orthodontic issues by improving the alignment of the teeth and jawbones. 
• Laser Gum Treatment - Laser gum treatment can be used to address periodontal disease, improve the symmetry of the gum line, or to address excessive gingival display (gummy smile). 
• Bone Grafting and Gum Grafting - In cases where gum disease or other issues have led to significant bone and gum tissue degeneration, grafting procedures can be performed to trigger the generation of new tissues, augmenting the jawbone, lifting the sinuses, or addressing extreme gum recession. 

Typically, full mouth reconstruction treatment plans are fairly complex, involving multistep processes that combine a variety of treatments administered in a predetermined order. 

Our dentist will discuss your treatment options with you, thoroughly explaining each recommendation and answering your questions to ensure you understand the process and expected treatment outcome before deciding on the treatment plan that is right for you. 

Ensuring a Comfortable and Pain-Free Process

We work individually with each patient to ensure a pain-free, comfortable, and stress-free treatment process. When needed, we use high-quality local anesthetics to prevent patients from experiencing pain and discomfort during treatment and to minimize pain after treatment. Additionally, we will provide you with complete aftercare and recovery instructions designed to accelerate healing and minimize recovery pain.

We also offer a variety of stress relief treatments and modalities, including sedation dentistry with oral conscious sedation, NuCalm, and Bi-Tapp. Depending on the complexity of the treatments you will be receiving and your level of dental anxiety, Dr. Sinclair may recommend oral conscious sedation dentistry to help you relax during your treatments and have a more pleasant experience overall. If you believe that sedation dentistry would be beneficial to you during your treatments, we encourage you to talk with Dr. Sinclair about all of your options. 

How Long Does Mouth Reconstruction Take?

The treatment timeline for full mouth reconstruction varies depending on each treatment plan and its complexity. The length of treatment varies based on the number of treatments needed, the recovery times for those treatments, and the total steps in the treatment plan. As a result, a full mouth reconstruction can require anywhere from a month or two to a year or two to complete. 

Maintenance and Ongoing Care

After your treatment plan is complete, our dentist will provide you with a plan for ongoing maintenance and care designed to support your newly revitalized oral health and maintain your dental work. Depending on your oral health and types of reconstructive dental work, we might recommend visiting the dentist anywhere from every few months to twice a year, immediately following your treatment plan.

Additionally, we will provide you with instructions for caring for your teeth, gums, and dental prosthetics at home in between dental appointments. These instructions will include proper brushing and flossing techniques, plus a variety of recommendations for oral hygiene products and tools such as interdental brushes, electric toothbrushes, water flossers, or dental adhesives and denture cleansers. 

Restore Your Smile and Quality of Life With Our Full Mouth Reconstruction Dentist in Encinitas, CA

If oral health problems are diminishing the quality of your daily life by impacting your ability to eat your favorite foods or speak naturally, damaging your confidence, or causing you pain and discomfort, then a full mouth restoration with Dr. Sinclair at Sinclair Smiles might be right for you. During a consultation, our dentist will be happy to dive into a complete restoration treatment plan with you. If, however, you feel daunted by the idea, we can start small by addressing your immediate oral health needs before making bigger decisions about restorative and cosmetic treatments down the road. Our goal is to be flexible in accommodating each of our patients' individual needs throughout the full mouth reconstructive treatment process. 

To learn more about full mouth rehabilitation or to request a consultation, we encourage you to contact Sinclair Smiles today. We look forward to working with you to restore your oral health, dental function, confidence, and quality of life. 

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