A Case of Collapsed Bite

Posted by writeradmin

I wanted some advice. I absolutely hate my smile, but not for the typical reasons you usually hear from someone. My teeth aren’t visible. When my mouth is at rest, it looks like I don’t have teeth. When I smile, I have to make a great effort for my teeth to be seen. I do have a nightguard I wear. When that is in, my jaw hurts left and you can see my teeth a little better. My dentist is suggesting porcelain veneers, but a friend said that won’t do anything except empty my bank account.  What, if anything, can be done for someone in my position?

Amanda

Dear Amanda,

I am glad you wrote before you had any work done. You have a complicated case and an inexperienced dentist could completely destroy your bite. I have not examined you, but based on your description, it sounds like you have a collapsed bite along with TMJ Disorder. I can imagine you have been experiencing some pain for quite a while. I’m sorry no one has helped you deal with it before now.

As to the solution, porcelain veneers will not solve your problem, not without additional treatments. This will probably need to be fixed by opening your bite with dental crowns. This is known as a full-mouth reconstruction. This has to be done carefully or it can cause more problems than it solves. You will need a dentist with advanced TMJ training to look at this.

Very few dentists have the training you need. I would look for someone who has done post-doctoral training with one of the following institutions:

• L.D. Pankey Institute
• Dawson Academy
• Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies

These are the top institutes for TMJ training.

Make sure whoever does this gets the reconstruction done with the provisional crowns first. Do not let them permanently bond anything unless your teeth are comfortable and they look the way you want.

This blog is brought to you by Arnold, MD Dentist Dr. Meredith Esposito.