Treatment of Severely Worn Dentition - Atlanta, GA
Let Us Restore Your Worn-Out Teeth To A Youthful Smile
Building a Confident Smile with Reconstructive Dentistry
Tooth Wear Can Affect Your Smile and Steal Your Confidence
Beyond the difficulty of worn teeth causing pain and functional problems, severe enamel wear can affect your appearance and damage your confidence. Nothing ages your smile faster than enamel wear. The discoloration and change in shape from worn-out enamel can make you feel self-conscious about your smile.
Your teeth also affect the shape of your face. Having properly sized and appropriately positioned teeth can affect the way our jaw sits. Short teeth don’t support the shape of your face properly and can lead to a prematurely-aged look. If you’ve ever seen someone without their dentures in, you have an idea of how over-closing due to insufficient dental support can change the shape of someone’s face … including your own.
While our priority is to rebuild your dental health, cosmetic concerns can have a serious effect on your confidence and mental health. Full mouth restoration to correct severe enamel wear means restoring the health and function of your teeth and creating a beautiful smile to help you reclaim your confidence.
Do Your Teeth Have Word Dentition?
Teeth That Appear Short, Stumpy or Flat on Top
When our teeth touch, they rub against each other and wear away at the enamel on the chewing and biting edges. This process is called attrition. If your teeth don’t match up perfectly, if you suffer from sleep apnea or breathing issues, if stress makes you clench your jaw or grind your teeth, or if you have bad habits like biting your nails or chewing on pen caps, you will probably put more wear and tear on your teeth than the average person. The tires on your car might lose their tread faster on one side than the other. Similarly, your teeth will show more significant patterns of wear in the places where your bite is uneven, or your teeth hit together harder. Attrition can make your front teeth shorter and expose the darker inner layer beneath the white enamel. It can also create flattened tops to your molars, making them less functional and interfering with your healthy bite.
Thin, Transparent or Discolored Teeth
Enamel can dissolve slightly when it’s exposed to acid. This process is called erosion or acid erosion. Acids that damage your enamel can come from several sources. Many foods and beverages like soda, juice, sports drinks and citrus fruits contain high amounts of acid. Your digestion also depends on the acids your body produces. If you have frequent heartburn or acid reflux, if you suffer from some eating disorders such as bulimia, or if your saliva is just naturally more acidic, this can also lead to erosion.
Acid erosion can give your teeth a glassy appearance as they lose enamel. It can also create transparent areas that appear dark or gray, or make the enamel so thin that the dark yellow dentin layer becomes visible and makes the teeth appear discolored. Erosion can weaken the teeth and lead to chipping and fracturing, or it may make you more prone to decay.
Tooth Notches or Grooves Near the Gums
Teeth may also become worn at the base, where they meet the gums. Gum recession exposing soft root surfaces may make you especially prone to this type of wear. There are two main types of gumline wear: abrasion and abfraction.
Abrasion happens when you use a hard toothbrush or highly abrasive cleaning products, or if you tend to brush too hard. Acid exposure can also make you more prone to abrasion. Acid can soften and weaken the enamel, and if you brush while it’s in this state, you’ll wear away more mineral. Abrasion usually manifests as broad U-shaped areas of missing tooth structure near the gumline and may happen along with gum recession.
Another sign of grinding or clenching, abfraction refers to V-shaped notches where the top of the tooth meets the root. As you apply excess pressure to the teeth, they naturally flex a little. If they keep flexing in the same place, the enamel will slowly give in to the strain and breakdown to create a deep groove at the gumline.
When Wear Becomes a Problem
All of us have some level of wear on our teeth. However, normal wear should not compromise the appearance or function of your teeth. When wear becomes severe, it can create serious problems with your oral health, and damage how you feel about your appearance.
Pain and Loss of Function from Enamel Wear
Severe wear of any kind can expose the sensitive inner layer of your teeth. This can make eating, drinking, or even taking a deep breath very painful. Tooth sensitivity can be triggered by temperature changes (like when you eat ice cream or drink cold beverages), sweet or acidic foods (like pineapple), or even pressure from biting down normally.
Not only can wear make your teeth sensitive; it can also throw your bite out of alignment, putting strain on your jaw joints. Attrition, which is wear due to overusing your teeth, is frequently associated with symptoms of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder, such as stiffness and pain in the chewing muscles or jaw joint, stiff and painful neck and upper back muscles, and frequent headaches.
Severely worn teeth also become weaker and more prone to cracking, chipping and breaking. Wear can also lead to gum recession and unstable teeth. You may start to have trouble biting and chewing if your teeth no longer meet properly or you lose the texture and grooves that help to grind your food.
We’ve Got Dental Treatment Options for All Types of Enamel Wear
The bad news is that when enamel wears off teeth, it’s gone forever. We cannot rebuild your natural enamel. The good news is that we can use advanced techniques and durable materials to restore your teeth, your health and your smile, no matter how severe your enamel wear.
Whether your enamel is worn mostly on your front teeth, only on your molars, or throughout your whole mouth, we can fully restore the healthy function and beautiful esthetics of your teeth and smile. Full mouth restoration of severely worn teeth will always start with a thorough exam. Once we learn the extent of the damage and what caused it, we can build a customized plan by combining different procedures and therapies to suit your unique needs.
From full porcelain veneers and crowns to restoring the harmony of your bite and crafting perfect esthetics for your smile, our team will walk you through every step of the plan before we begin.
A complete Smile Makeover in our state-of-the-art practice includes digital planning, which will allow you to see exactly how beautiful your new smile will be! Working with our board-certified prosthodontic team – conveniently serving the entire Atlanta, GA area, including Buckhead, Johns Creek, Duluth, Suwanee and Buford – means you’ll be in the best hands anywhere in Georgia! We can ensure a low-stress, convenient treatment experience from beginning to end.
Don’t let worn-out teeth hold you back another day!
Schedule a consultation with our smile experts today.
