Full Mouth Rehabilitation in Beverly Hills

What is full mouth rehabilitation?

Full mouth rehabilitation, also called full mouth reconstruction or full mouth restoration, is a comprehensive approach for a mouth that needs more than a tooth or two of care. It is designed to replace missing teeth, repair damaged teeth, correct a misaligned jaw joint and bite, treat gum disease, rebuild lost jawbone, and replace worn out dental appliances with dental implants. Just as important, it aims to create a smile that looks relaxed and in proportion with your face.

At our Beverly Hills practice we call this approach Smile 360. Dr. Frey looks at the entire mouth, not just the teeth that show when you smile, so the work goes well beyond making a beautiful smile. Depending on your situation, it can include placing implants to rebuild the bite, repositioning a bite that is under strain from TMJ, moving teeth with orthodontics, or rebuilding the jawbone with bone grafts. It is an involved process. Dr. Frey handles much of it himself, and because we are a multi specialty practice, he can also bring in the endodontists, oral surgeons, and periodontists who work in our office.

Every piece of the dental pie.

Dr. Frey often describes oral health as a pie with several pieces: healthy gums, no infection, no missing teeth, a healthy and comfortable bite, and a beautiful smile. Smile 360 is designed to address every piece, not just the one that prompted your visit.

If any piece stops working well, your oral health can suffer. It may be missing or badly decayed teeth. It could be gum disease, or bite problems caused by temporomandibular joint disorder. It could be a crooked smile. When these problems build up, the teeth in both the upper and lower jaws may all need attention, and that is when full mouth rehabilitation makes sense.

Dr. Frey’s combination of neuromuscular and cosmetic dentistry, built over more than 35 years of practice, is aimed at giving you back a healthy, natural smile that feels like your own.

What procedures may be involved?

Full mouth rehabilitation is not a one appointment treatment. Before the Smile 360 procedure itself can begin, every piece of the dental pie has to be addressed. Are your gums healthy? Is your bite sound? Depending on what your mouth needs, your plan can include any combination of the following.

• Restorative dentistry: crowns, bridges, fillings, inlays, and onlays.
• Implant dentistry: implants to replace missing teeth and to anchor bridges and other appliances.
• Cosmetic dentistry: porcelain veneers, bonding, teeth whitening, and gum recontouring.
• Neuromuscular dentistry: treatment of TMJ related problems and realignment of the bite.
• Bruxism treatment: care to ease clenching and grinding.
• Orthodontics: traditional braces, Invisalign, spacers, expanders, and retainers, all used to move teeth into their proper positions.
• Oral surgery: implant placement and extractions.
• Endodontic treatment: root canals.
• Periodontal treatment: gum scaling, root planing, and periodontal surgery to address gum disease, along with soft and hard tissue grafting to rebuild gum and bone.

Who is a candidate for full mouth rehabilitation?

There is no single threshold that makes a case full mouth rehabilitation. The term mainly describes a situation that has moved past one or two teeth needing attention, or where the gums have progressed from gingivitis into gum disease. We plan these cases with what Dr. Frey calls a reorganized approach: treating the mouth as one connected system rather than one tooth at a time, which he sees as the foundation for healthy teeth and a beautiful smile.

Some of the issues that lead patients to full mouth rehabilitation:

• Several teeth lost to extensive decay or trauma
• Gum problems throughout the mouth
• A mouth full of old crowns and fillings, placed over many years and in different materials
• Several teeth that have been injured or fractured
• Teeth worn down by years of grinding or by acid reflux
• Ongoing jaw, muscle, and headache pain from a misaligned jaw, often linked to TMJ

The Smile 360 approach.

Treatment techniques and timelines vary from patient to patient, but the first step is always a comprehensive dental exam. Before we plan any restorative work, we need a clear picture of your dental health.

Some patients need neuromuscular dentistry first, to address pain and teeth worn down by grinding. It is one of several pieces of the dental pie that have to be settled before cosmetic work begins, so that your new smile rests on a comfortable, stable bite.

What happens during full mouth rehabilitation?

Once the foundations are in place, we like to complete the Smile 360 procedure in two major visits, with a shorter visit in between.

1. Preparing your teeth. The first major visit prepares your teeth so the dental lab can craft your new smile and bite. It usually involves removing old crowns and fillings and making sure no decay remains in any tooth. You leave wearing a temporary restoration that resembles the final look. We call this your trial smile.
2. Refining the trial smile. You return for a shorter visit so we can perfect the trial smile you are wearing temporarily.
3. Placing your new smile. The second major visit is usually two appointments combined into one. We try in your new porcelain teeth first and review them with you in front of a mirror. If they do not look at least as good as your trial smile, we do not place them. When you love them, we bond your new smile in place.

How is it different from a smile makeover?

To be true artists of the smile, we look at the entire mouth, not just the teeth that show. This is the reorganized approach. Full mouth rehabilitation may call for neuromuscular therapy or bite correction to treat the underlying problem behind cracked, broken, missing, or crooked teeth. It combines our expertise in neuromuscular and cosmetic dentistry to create a healthy, natural smile.

A smile makeover is generally elective. It uses treatments such as porcelain veneers or dental implants to improve the look of your smile, and its focus is the teeth that show when you smile. At our practice even a smile makeover begins with a check of your bite and gum health, but its goal is mainly cosmetic.

Full mouth rehabilitation, on the other hand, is often necessary for patients who want to keep their teeth and avoid losing significant jawbone. Its purpose is to halt a decline in your oral health and rebuild from there.

What success looks like.

Success in full mouth rehabilitation is the whole mouth working together: healthy gums, no infection or missing teeth, a comfortable bite, and a smile you are glad to show. You see and approve the look in your trial smile before anything final is placed, so the result is one you have chosen.

When every piece of the dental pie works together, the aim is that your visits can settle back into routine cleanings and exams for years to come. Every mouth is different, and Dr. Frey will talk through what is realistic for yours at your consultation.