Bruxism, or chronic teeth grinding, could place serious pressure on your teeth and lead to major complications with your oral health. This is also often linked to a related jaw joint disorder known as TMD, or TMJ disorder. In today’s blog, your Prairie Village, KS, prosthodontist talks about treating issues like bruxism.
The Causes and Dangers of Teeth Grinding
People develop chronic teeth grinding for a number of different reasons. For some, this could be untreated TMJ disorder, which strains your bite and causes multiple complications. High stress levels could be a factor too. For others, issues that upset bite balance are to blame, such as tooth loss, misalignment, injury, or even complications with the growth and development of your jaw, or the arrival of your teeth. Wisdom teeth could be a factor too! As part of your treatment, we will carefully examine your smile to understand the cause and severity of your bruxism. The pressure on your teeth could crack or chip teeth, or wear down structure, so you’re more likely to develop tooth decay and infection.
Possible Prosthodontic Solutions
Our team could address the issue in a number of different ways. For example, if your grinding and clenching episodes are related to tooth loss, then we could create and place a dental bridge, or even offer dental implants. These fill the gaps and restore balance to your bite too. We could also discuss crowns to improve the balance of your bite so there is no pressure on your jaw joints. But for most patients, we will help with an oral appliance, one custom-made for your smile.
Oral Appliance Therapy
The oral appliance is a device that looks and fits like a mouthguard, and is used as you sleep at night. We will custom-make them based on the detailed digital images we take of your smile from multiple angles. The device then fits comfortably and shifts your jaw to ease pressure and strain. The device also places a barrier between the upper and lower sets of teeth to prevent further damage to your smile. Our team can also discuss restoration to treat injured or worn-down teeth too. If you have any questions about how we treat issues like teeth grinding, or if you want the chance to use your remaining 2023 dental insurance benefits before they expire, then please reach out to our team today to learn more. We want to help you greet 2024 with your best smile!
DO YOU GRIND YOUR TEETH?
We would like to help you enjoy good oral health and avoid damaged teeth. To learn more about treating jaw joint concerns, then give a call to your Overland Park and Prairie Village, KS prosthodontist, Dr. Stuart Dexter, DDS at (913)362-8200 and schedule an appointment.