Full mouth rehabilitation

Where many teeth are worn, broken, missing or failing, treating them one at a time does not work. A full mouth rehabilitation plans the whole bite first, then rebuilds it in a considered sequence.

What it is

Some mouths cannot be fixed a tooth at a time. Years of grinding, acid erosion, old failing crowns and a few missing teeth combine into something where every tooth affects the next — the bite has collapsed, the front teeth are doing work the back teeth should be doing, and repairing one tooth in isolation simply puts the problem somewhere else.

Rehabilitation begins with diagnosis rather than treatment: why the wear happened. Grinding, acid reflux, diet, a bite that never met properly, or a combination. Rebuilding without answering that question produces beautiful work that breaks in the same pattern as the teeth it replaced.

The plan then establishes where the bite should be — how much height to restore, where the front teeth should sit for speech and appearance, and how the back teeth should meet. That is usually tested with temporaries you wear and live with for weeks before anything permanent is made. If something is wrong, it is far better found in acrylic than in porcelain.

Delivery is staged: urgent problems and infection first, gum health next, then the foundations — root treatments, extractions, implants — and only then the final crowns, bridges or dentures. It takes months and it is a significant undertaking. Done in that order, the result lasts.

You may need this if…

• Teeth visibly shortened or flattened by wear
• Repeated fractures of teeth or restorations
• Many old crowns and fillings reaching the end of their life
• Several missing teeth and a bite that has collapsed
• A lower face that looks shortened
• Chewing that has become difficult across the whole mouth

What happens, step by step

1. Full assessment

   Every tooth, the gums, the joints and the muscles, with photographs, models, X-rays and a record of how your jaws relate.

2. Finding the cause

   Grinding, erosion, diet, reflux or a long-standing bite problem — identified before anything is rebuilt.

3. Stabilising

   Pain, infection and active decay dealt with. Gum treatment until the foundations are healthy.

4. The trial bite

   Temporaries built to the proposed new bite, worn and lived with. Speech, chewing and appearance are all tested at this stage.

5. Rebuilding

   Root treatments, extractions and implants as planned, then the definitive crowns, bridges or dentures, delivered section by section.

6. Protection and review

   A night guard where grinding was the cause, and a review schedule. The guard is what protects the investment.

Looking after it afterwards

• Wear the night guard. Work rebuilt without one and ground on nightly will fail.
• Cleaning between the teeth daily, around every crown and implant.
• Keep the review appointments; small problems caught early stay small.
• Treat reflux or dietary acid if that was part of the cause.

Questions people actually ask

This page is general information about full mouth rehabilitation. It is not advice about your own mouth — for that you need to be examined.