Full Mouth Crowns

Understanding Full Mouth Crowns: Restoring Your Smile and Health

A tooth may need a crown for various reasons, including extensive decay, fractures, large fillings, or following a root canal treatment. Crowns provide essential structural support and protect weakened or damaged teeth from further harm while restoring their functionality and appearance. Additionally, crowns can enhance the aesthetics of a smile by covering discolored or misshapen teeth and making them match other teeth, or can even be designed to create a custom smile that fits your face, lips and anatomy perfectly.

Do you want the incisal edges of your teeth more curved around the corners to be a little more feminine? Or more straight across? The shapes of the teeth themselves, more square or more round? These changes can all be obtained through crowns for a smile that is perfectly YOU.

Whether for functional restoration or cosmetic improvement, crowns play a crucial role in preserving dental health and restoring confidence in one’s smile. When it comes to dental health, there are various treatments available to address different issues. One common solution for extensive dental problems is full mouth crowns. But what exactly are full mouth crowns, and why might someone need them? Let’s delve into the details.

Reasons for Needing Full Mouth Crowns

Full mouth crowns are often recommended for individuals facing significant dental challenges with multiple teeth. Here are some common reasons why someone might need this comprehensive dental treatment:

• Extensive decay or damage to teeth

Years of neglect, poor oral hygiene habits, physical trauma or underlying health issues can lead to extensive decay or damage in multiple teeth. In such cases, full mouth crowns provide a comprehensive solution to restore both the functionality and aesthetics of the affected teeth.

• Extensive existing dental restorations leaving little natural tooth structure

Fillings are a common treatment for cavities, restoring the structure and function of teeth compromised by decay. Once a tooth has been drilled and filled, its journey through time takes on a unique trajectory. Understanding what happens to a tooth after restoration can provide valuable insights into oral health maintenance and the longevity of dental interventions.  Despite advancements in dental materials and techniques, fillings may occasionally fail or become damaged. Factors such as recurrent decay, fracture of the filling, or leakage around the filling can compromise the integrity of the restoration. In such cases, the filling may need to be repaired or replaced to maintain the health of the tooth.

With each new restoration of a tooth, more and more natural tooth structure is removed and replaced with either composite, amalgam, porcelain or gold restorations (fillings, onlays, inlays).  When a tooth reaches the point where there is more dental restorative material than natural enamel, it is at risk for fracture. This is often why a crown is recommended. Crowns cover the entire tooth and protect it from breakage.

With proper oral hygiene and regular dental check-ups, a well-placed filling can last for many years. The durability and longevity of the filling depends on factors such as the type of material used, the size and location of the filling, and the patient’s oral hygiene and lifestyle habits.

• Severe tooth damage from trauma or accidents

Accidents or traumatic injuries can result in severe damage to teeth, compromising their structural integrity and functionality. Crowns offer a reliable method to rebuild and reinforce damaged teeth, restoring their strength and appearance.

• Teeth worn down from bruxism (teeth grinding)

Bruxism, (teeth grinding or clenching), can gradually wear down tooth enamel, leading to weakened, sensitive and sometimes, severely worn-down teeth. Bruxism is a common cause of tooth breakage, as the human jaw has a bite pressure of approximately 160 lbs. per square inch, and capable of seriously damaging teeth. For people with this habit, full mouth crowns can help protect and strengthen teeth affected by bruxism, preventing further damage and improving overall dental health.

• Aesthetic improvements for severely discolored or misshapen teeth

Beyond functional issues, full mouth crowns can also address cosmetic concerns. For individuals with severely discolored, misshapen, or unevenly sized teeth, crowns offer a way to achieve a more aesthetically pleasing smile, boosting confidence and self-esteem.  One big benefit of full mouth crowns, as opposed to a single crown here or there, is that you can design your smile to be exactly like you want it to be as far as tooth shape, color, etc.

• Multiple root canals

When a tooth has had a root canal, the nerve is removed, and with it, the blood supply within the root of the tooth is depleted. Once the blood supply of a tooth is gone, over time, it becomes brittle and is much more likely to break. It is standard practice to place a crown on a tooth after a root canal has been done on a tooth to protect it from breaking or snapping off at the gum line. When many teeth have had root canals, crowns are the best way to protect them.

Benefits of Full Mouth Crowns

Opting for full mouth crowns can bring a range of benefits, both in terms of dental health and overall well-being:

• Restoration of dental function and bite alignment

By covering the entire surface of damaged or decayed teeth, full mouth crowns restore proper functionality, allowing individuals to bite, chew, and speak comfortably. Additionally, for people with an uneven occlusion, crowns can help improve bite alignment, reducing strain on the jaw joints and muscles.

• Improvement in aesthetic appearance

Crowns not only restore dental function but also enhance the appearance of the smile. Custom-designed to match the shape, size, and color of natural teeth, crowns blend seamlessly with the existing dentition, resulting in a natural-looking and attractive smile.

• Protection of remaining tooth structure

In cases where teeth are extensively damaged or decayed, preserving the remaining tooth structure is crucial for long-term dental health. Full mouth crowns provide a protective barrier, shielding weakened teeth from further damage and decay.

• Long-term durability and strength

Constructed from durable materials such as porcelain, ceramic, or metal alloys, full mouth crowns offer exceptional strength and longevity. With proper care and maintenance, crowns can last for many years, providing reliable support and functionality.

Evaluating the Need for Full Mouth Crowns

Before undergoing any dental procedure, it’s essential to undergo a thorough evaluation to determine the most appropriate treatment plan for your individual circumstances and status. If you’re experiencing any of the issues mentioned above or have concerns about your dental health, consult with a prosthodontist. They can assess your condition, discuss your treatment options, and help you make informed decisions to achieve optimal oral health and a confident smile.

The Importance of WHO TO TRUST To Do Your Full Mouth Crowns

Almost every adult in America has had at least one dental crown. But not all crowns are created equally. Sadly, a very well-prepared tooth and well-fitting crown are not as common as they should be.

Several of the steps involves need be done perfectly, and any one step that is less than ideal, results in a crown that does not last as long as it COULD if all the steps were done as accurately as possible.

The American Dental Association specifies that crowns are acceptable when the margins fit within 200 microns. That’s a microscopic space, and that’s the space that exists between the margin of the crown and the margin of the tooth. So how do we get great fitting crowns?

Well, first, the dentist has to be able to do the work. Meaning with our magnification loupes, our lights, and our fine motor skills, we create a perfect preparation. A perfect preparation takes time and excellent hand skills. That’s the first part. The second part is we have to find a way to make a perfect impression of that perfect preparation.

So, we make that impression, send it to the lab, and now the lab has to do their part perfectly.

Many offices, to keep their cost competitive, will use less expensive labs whose work is not ideal. Or, if they are forced to do them for lower fees (because of insurance-delegated fee schedule restrictions), they tend to do them faster, and with a technique that requires delicate precision, rushing is never a good thing.

That little margin of 200 microns MUST be perfect. If it’s larger than that, it fills in with cement, temporarily. The cement washes out and then a cavity starts. That’s most often why crowns fail – they never fit in the first place.  Hopefully, this helps you understand what it takes to get a really good outcome for one single crown.

So, if you need a full arch of 12-14 crowns or a full mouth of 26-28 crowns – it gets exponentially harder to do those multiple crown treatments and get them all just right. So, finding a dentist who has the skill set, the patience and the motivation to deliver great results is not easy. It’s very difficult to find that type of practitioner.

As the only dental specialist to specialize specifically in RESTORING and REPLACING teeth, your safest bet is to have them done by a Prosthodontist.

We do a lot of these treatments. You can see some of them in our photo gallery. If you’d like to learn more about how this type of treatment can help you, contact us today to schedule a complimentary consultation. We’re happy to help you discover just which treatment options best suit your needs.