If you grind your teeth on a nightly basis, this could be an indicator of bruxism. Without treatment, the constant pressure could damage and wear down your teeth, leaving them vulnerable to tooth decay and more! In today’s blog, your Virgina Beach, VA, dentist talks about finally treating your teeth grinding episodes.
The Causes of Bruxism
Why do we grind our teeth on a regular basis? People with bruxism may develop the disorder due to high stress levels, or possibly factors that upset bite balance. These factors could include missing teeth, injury to the jaw or face, issues with the growth of the jaw or the eruption of the teeth, or misalignment. Your significant other could let you know you grind your teeth, but there are also symptoms that occur during waking hours that you should be aware of! These include toothaches, tooth sensitivity, jaw and facial pain, and aches in the neck and shoulders. If you have persistent pain in and around your smile, please let us know right away.
Damaging Your Smile
Our team recommends treatment because teeth grinding does more than just make a loud, irritating sound. These episodes wear down enamel and even cracks or chips tooth structure, which not only changes the appearance of your smile, but could leave it vulnerable to tooth decay and dental infection too! Our team will examine your smile closely to assess the cause and extent of your bruxism so we can not only put a stop to future episodes, but provide repair for your smile too.
Treatment
Treatment could include prosthetics to address tooth loss, orthodontics to correct misalignment, or even crowns or bonding to help improve overall bite balance and to ease jaw joint strain. But the most common solution is an oral appliance, a device that looks and fits like a mouthguard. The device is custom-made for your smile based on digital images and measurements we take with advanced imaging systems. The resulting appliance is worn as you sleep, fitting comfortably and gently shifting the jaw to ease the underlying strain and stress. This also puts a barrier between the upper and lower teeth to prevent further damage to your smile.
Repairing Your Teeth
Our team could use dental bonding to repair minor damage in one visit, or a custom full or partial crown to address more severe cases of damaged teeth. This helps correct the damage brought on grinding, and also improves bite balance to reduce the changes of future episodes. If you have any questions about bruxism, then reach out to our team today to learn more.
Talk to Our Team About Oral Appliance Therapy
We want to help you enjoy a strong and healthy smile for years to come! Call Absolute Dental Care in Virginia Beach, VA at (757) 428-7440 to schedule an appointment.
