Dealing with Compound Dental Issues
Sometimes Mother Nature is not kind to all of us.
This lovely patient complained about her teeth her entire life. Her
overbite and years
of neglect had caused serious problems to her oral health.
She had daily headaches and jaw pain.
It took us several months to treat her basic dental needs: gum disease,
cavities, infected roots, etc. We did not make any referrals to
specialists as all of her care was handled in our office, minimizing patient
expenses and number of visits.
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| Before Bridgework |
After Bridgework |
Treating TMJ Problems
Soon after, a 14 unit fixed bridge was placed on her upper jaw. This bridge was fabricated as one unit in order to provide
stability to her weak teeth and give us a strong foundation for treating her TMJ
problems. It was necessary to "solder" all of her upper teeth together to
give us the required strength and stability. The cosmetic result was very
good as you can see in the close-up photos. The teeth are actually made as
a one-piece bridge, even though they appear to be individualized.
TMJ STABILIZATION AND OCCLUSAL
REHABILITATION
This final step of the puzzle was accomplished by
fabricating 2 Bridges on her lower jaw in order to provide the proper jaw to jaw
relationship and eliminate the TMJ and jaw pain that she was experiencing since
childhood. She was completely pain free within 2 months of finishing
treatment.
Notice how we fabricated the upper jaw work.
This is necessary in order to provide proper foundation for the lower jaw,
which uses the upper jaw as guidance and control for its function. Lack of
upper jaw guidance is responsible for a majority of facial pain, including
migraines and headaches!
Proper reconstructive work requires in-depth
investigation and diagnosis of all jaw and facial components. Our advanced
Neuromuscular program encompasses a variety of techniques required to properly
balance dental work with a person's muscles, jaws, ligaments, nerves, and other
structures in order to provide the most harmonious relationship for proper
function.
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