New Hanover County · Since 1987
Full Mouth Rehabilitation in Wrightsville Beach, NC
Full mouth rehabilitation rebuilds a worn, broken down or collapsed bite. It is the largest thing we do and it is sequenced over months, sometimes over a year.
- Three doctors, one location
- Sedation available
- Most major plans accepted
- Written estimates before treatment
A closer look at full mouth rehabilitation
Patients arrive here after years of piecemeal repair: a crown in 2011, an extraction in 2016, a partial that never fit. At some point treating one tooth at a time stops working, because the bite itself is the problem.
Full detail on full mouth rehabilitation ›
Why Wrightsville Beach patients come to us for this
Wrightsville Beach has the highest household incomes in the region and a resident base that treats a good smile as part of the package.
Patients here tend to want the durable answer rather than the quick one, and they ask good questions about materials and longevity. We are happy to have that conversation in detail.
The island's year-round population is small, so almost everyone here already drives into Wilmington for medical appointments.
Harbour Island and the Banks Channel side send us most of our Wrightsville Beach patients, and the drawbridge is the only real variable in the trip.
Summer traffic on Eastwood Road is worth planning around; a morning appointment is a different journey from a four o'clock one in July.
We see patients from across Wrightsville Beach and the surrounding area, including Johnnie Mercer's Pier, the Loop, Banks Channel and the 28480 ZIP code.
New Hanover County is the built-out core of the region, growing around one percent a year, with roughly 21 percent of residents over 65 and the highest concentration of employer dental coverage in southeastern North Carolina.
Larger cases are scheduled around your calendar rather than ours, and we will consolidate appointments where the clinical sequence allows it.
Twenty minutes over the drawbridge puts you in a chair with a doctor who does this work every week, not a cosmetic clinic that sees veneers twice a year.
You may be a candidate if
- Teeth worn short across the whole arch
- Multiple missing and failing teeth at once
- A bite that has collapsed and changed your facial profile
- Chronic jaw pain alongside extensive wear
- Years of separate repairs that keep failing
What the process looks like
- Comprehensive recordsPhotographs, scans, mounted models and a joint assessment.
- Diagnostic wax-upThe proposed end result is built in wax before any treatment starts.
- Provisional phaseYou wear the new bite in temporary form, often for months, and we adjust it.
- Definitive restorationBuilt to the position proved out in the provisionals.
- MaintenanceA protective guard and a tighter recall interval.
Afterwards
You will wear a protective night guard indefinitely. Hygiene visits move to a three or four month interval. Treated properly, this work lasts decades. Neglected, it does not.
Follow-up visits are short and we will schedule them at the start or end of the day if that works better around your week.
What it costs
Full mouth rehabilitation is a substantial investment and we treat it that way. You get a written, phased plan with costs per phase, so it can be staged over time rather than committed to at once. We go through financing in detail at the planning appointment.
We can sequence larger cases across two benefit years where the clinical situation allows it, which puts two annual maximums against the same plan of treatment.
In their own words
Hear from Dr. Carter Lee
Dr. Lee on fixing only what needs fixing, and what it is like to hand a patient the mirror after a smile transformation.
Questions we get asked
Why is the planning phase so long?
Because the bite position is the whole case. Proving it in provisionals before building the final work is what stops it failing in year three.
Is this the same as a smile makeover?
A smile makeover is cosmetic. Full mouth rehabilitation is structural, treats function and the joint, and usually includes the back teeth nobody sees.
How far is your office from Wrightsville Beach?
About 10 miles, or roughly 20 minutes via Eastwood Road (US-74) over the Heide Trask Drawbridge. We are at 1301 Physicians Dr in Wilmington, with parking at the door.
Do you see patients from Wrightsville Beach?
Regularly. Wrightsville Beach is part of our core service area in New Hanover County, and twenty minutes over the drawbridge puts you in a chair with a doctor who does this work every week, not a cosmetic clinic that sees veneers twice a year.
What are your hours?
Monday through Thursday, 8:00am to 5:00pm, and Friday, 8:00am to 12:00pm. Outside those hours, leave a message or use the appointment request form and we will come back to you with the first available time.
Full Mouth Rehabilitation · Wrightsville Beach, NC
You have probably been told several different things about this.
Bring the opinions you have already been given. We will look at your scan with you and say which parts we agree with.
- Three doctors, 50+ years of combined experience
- Implant surgery and restoration in one building
- Sedation available for longer appointments
- Written, phased treatment plans with costs attached
Worried it is too much work at your age? Health matters far more than the number, and we will tell you if we think a smaller plan serves you better.
Request an appointment
We reply the next business day.
Please do not include Protected Health Information. For anything urgent, call (910) 762-0958.
