When people have a harder time managing their stress levels, the negative feelings they experience can make them vulnerable to problems with teeth grinding or clenching. If you start to grind or clench at night, you can be vulnerable to some potentially serious oral health consequences. This issue, known as bruxism, can lead to enamel damage that requires restorative dental work. Even if the problem is caught in time to avoid this, you may feel less comfortable with the way you look due to cosmetic changes to your smile. At our Prairie Village, KS dentist’s office, patients who are dealing with bruxism can protect their teeth by taking home a custom oral guard. When worn, it will keep teeth apart so that nightly grinding or clenching cannot lead to enamel damage!
Heightened Feelings Of Stress Can Cause Teeth Grinding
Stress is not the only issue that can cause a person to grind their teeth, but it is something you can address in order to lower your risk for problems with bruxism. Unfortunately, many people who start to experience a rise in their stress levels will not tend to the matter, creating a greater chance of picking up this habit. When bruxism starts to affect you, it can lead to enamel damage as well as problems with TMJ disorder, which affects your ability to bite, chew, and speak while staying free of discomfort.
What Your Dentist Can Do To Address Bruxism
To stop bruxism from causing more stress on your jaw, or more damage to your enamel, we can provide you with a fitted guard to wear while you sleep. When the guard is worn, it stops you from grinding or clenching your teeth, effectively preventing any friction from wearing down your enamel or taxing your jaw joints and muscles. By wearing this every night, you can ensure that your condition does not grow worse. We can also help you by evaluating your smile and jaw function to determine if any other services are required to address the fallout from your troubles with bruxism.
Dealing With Dental Damage Caused By Grinding
How much work will it ultimately take to restore teeth impacted by bruxism? If the damage is only superficial, we can recommend cosmetic dental work. The placement of porcelain veneers can hide wear and tear, or even cover any chips and cracks that have formed since your teeth grinding issues started. For more significant damage, we may need to use dental crowns instead of veneers. With crowns, teeth are completely covered, but the restoration placed gives you more support for your bite.
Talk To Your Prairie Village, KS Dentist About Your Issues With Bruxism
If bruxism has become an issue for you, Dr. Browne can help! To find out what we can do for you, contact our Prairie Village, KS dental office today at 913-901-8585.
