Oral Rehabilitation

Harmonious and functional smile

Who doesn’t want a harmonious, healthy and functional smile? The “perfect” smile is increasingly within everyone’s reach, and it’s all thanks to Oral Rehabilitation.

This is the area of dentistry that focuses on restoring lost tooth structure, as well as improving existing tooth structure. It involves direct procedures, which are simpler and carried out in the office by the dentist, and indirect procedures, which involve the use of parts produced in the laboratory and finished in the office.

Another interesting feature of Oral Rehabilitation is that it is often multidisciplinary. This is because it requires work to be carried out in conjunction with other areas such as:

• Oral Hygiene, in procedures necessary to achieve gum health and teeth whitening;
• Ortodontia, no alinhamento dentário, através de aparelho dentário;
• Oral Implantology, for the placement of dental implants in areas of missing teeth;
• Periodontology, in treatments covering the gingival and bone components;
• Endodontics, when there is a need for tooth removal.

When to go for Oral Rehabilitation?

The main reasons for rehabilitating dental pieces are:

• Caries lesions that destroy tooth structure through the action of bacteria;
• Periodontal diseases that cause tooth loss;
• Trauma that results in the loss of tooth structure due to micro (excessive occlusal forces) or macro (traffic accident) trauma;
• Temporomandibular joint dysfunction and malocclusion (improper fit of the upper and lower dental arches);
• Tooth wear and/or fracture;
• Tooth misalignment and diastemas (gaps between teeth);
• Chewing difficulties;
• Changes in the appearance of the teeth (stains, etc.).

Biomimetic rehabilitation

Biomimicry is an area of science that aims to study biological structures and their functions. It seeks to learn from nature and imitate it.

Biomimetic rehabilitation is an approach that has completely revolutionized oral rehabilitation and dental aesthetics. The advantages are immense, especially in terms of aesthetics, durability and preservation of tooth structure.

Many ways to get the best smile

Oral Rehabilitation is an area with a wide range of options, from single direct restorations to full fixed prostheses on dental implants. In all therapeutic options, the starting point is the correct diagnosis of the pathology and the drawing up of an individual treatment plan focused on the patient in question.

It is therefore worth distinguishing between the two types of oral rehabilitation.

1. Direct restorations

These oral rehabilitations are simpler, like the treatment of a cracked tooth. They are carried out by a dentist, as the amount of tooth structure lost is minimal.

2. Indirect restorations

Here we are talking about a more complex type of Oral Rehabilitation and the elements are already produced in the laboratory. Examples include the following solutions:

• Inlays, onlays and overlays, which reinforce the tooth structure;
• Crowns, when the remaining tooth structure is reduced;
• Dental veneers, which correct the color and shape of teeth, diastemas or slight misalignments;
• Bridges, removable or fixed prostheses, multi-unit structures that restore lost dental parts.

The most common indirect restorations

Some Oral Rehabilitation treatments are carried out on a more regular basis than others, because they are solutions that respond to a wide variety of cases. It therefore makes sense for us to look at them more closely.

Dental Veneers

Also known as dental contact lenses, because they are extremely thin, veneers are an irreversible solution, as they involve slightly wearing down the tooth to create space for the veneer to adhere.

It corrects the color and shape of teeth, diastemas or slight misalignments.

More about Dental Veneers

Total Fixed Prosthesis.

In cases of total or severe tooth loss, it is necessary to replace the entire dentition. Thus, we can place total fixed prostheses on dental implants.

In this way, the patient’s teeth can be fully restored. It also restores the aesthetic and functional component.

More about Fixed Prosthodontics

Crowns and bridges

Crowns and bridges over teeth cover the entire tooth and are cemented onto it. In this way, they provide greater resistance to damaged teeth and improve their aesthetics, taking into account color, shape and function.

When there is no tooth on which to place these elements, single dental implants and dental crowns are placed. Crowns screwed onto dental implants mimic and reproduce the characteristics of natural teeth in order to perform their functions.

There are various materials used to produce dental crowns. Temporary crowns are generally made of acrylic and permanent crowns are made of ceramic, allowing for a better aesthetic result as well as good resistance.