As tooth structures wear down with age, the physical properties of our bite also change. Left untreated for an extended time, the bite collapses (a natural aging phenomenon.)
As a result of this “aging process” patients can experience TMJ pain, increased wear on front teeth, changes in facial features, difficulty smiling, and can even cause us to look older than our real age (granny mouth).
Our patient, an attractive 30 something year old male had the beginning stages of dental problems that typically don't occur, as a natural phenomenon, until a person is in their late forties or fifties.
As can be seen in the first two photographs, our patient had an extremely
gummy smile, small upper teeth, and severe wear to the biting surfaces.
Our patient had several goals that needed to be attained:
1. Fix the gummy smile
2. Halt and reverse the wear and tear
Many other dentists had given this young man their opinions, which included "all at once" bite adjustments and cosmetic reconstruction. We helped him understand that occlusion/bite modifications for his jaw structures needed to be changed incrementally, through a step by step process to assure natural repositioning of the upper and lower jaws. Corrections made too quickly usually result in worsening jaw relationships.
Best Treatment Outline
Selective gum shaping and recontouring was used as needed to create harmony across the new gingival arches on the treated teeth.
Davinci Veneers were used selectively to resize the anterior teeth, to the cosmetic specifications made by the client.
The anterior resizing required the need for onlays and inlays on the posterior teeth…the bite was going to be in the beginning stages of "re-opening."
Interestingly, our treatment cost was less than half of what other doctors recommended.
