His Full Mouth Reconstruction is Going Badly

I need some help. I am having a full-mouth reconstruction done with a mixture of crowns and bridges along with one dental implant. The temporary ones seemed fine, but somewhere between there and the permanent restorations something went wrong. Some of my teeth are hitting each other and some aren’t. My jaw seems slanted and hurts all the time. I talked to my dentist about it but all he wants to do is grind down the ones that are hitting. I just want my jaw to feel normal. Should I get a second opinion?

Carl

Dear Carl,

I am sorry that you are in pain. While I am not sure what happened between the temporary and permanent restorations, it does need to be fixed. Just grinding down the ones that are touching is not going to make this any better. If that is all your dentist is willing to do then, yes, you will definitely need a second opinion.

However, when you get a second opinion it needs to be a blind second opinion. That means you don’t say who it was who did your case. Just tell them you had a full-mouth reconstruction done and it doesn’t feel right. You don’t want him to know who your dentist is because most practitioners know each other. They may feel like they have to protect a friend’s reputation. If he does not know who did the work, he won’t feel conflicted about telling you the work is bad.

You Can’t Leave This as Is

The condition your mouth is in will lead to serious TMJ disorder. A full-mouth reconstruction is an advanced procedure and very few dentists can do it properly. Dental school training isn’t enough. Instead, your dentist needs to have invested in post-doctoral training.

Three of the best institutions for this type of training are:

• The Dawson Academy
• The Pankey Institute
• The Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies

These are the type of dentists that can build up your bite properly with correct occlusion. Though there isn’t a recognized specialty in TMJ, these are the closest you can come to a TMJ Specialist.

This blog is brought to you by Naperville Cosmetic Dentist Dr. David Newkirk.